Out of the Fire
by damonforever86
Summary: This story starts out after Tyler's first transformation into a werewolf. Elena is in danger of being sacrificed in order to break the curse.
1. Chapter 1

Tyler found that he could see through the darkness as though it were still light outside. It was then that he saw her. There was a girl in the clearing. He no longer possessed the ability to recognize the girl for who she truly was, Elena. By the time that she saw hi, it was too late. He was already upon her. She screamed and began to run through the darkness. It was of no use however, he was upon her in an instant. She was terrified. He could see it in her eyes. No!" she screamed, as she backed up into a tree. He lunged at her and managed to clip her shoulder with his claws. He started to turn back, getting ready to attack again. Suddenly, he heard a rush of wind and the leaves on the ground stirred. A figure appeared from the darkness. Damon stepped in front of Elena and Tyler. Damon and Tyler began to circle each other. The wolf lunged at Damon. Damon was able to avoid his attack. Then on the third try, Tyler grasped hold of Damon's chest. He bit hard into his skin. Damon fell to the ground in agony. Seeing that he had won, the wolf ran off into the night. Elena raced over to Damon. She lifted up his shirt and looked at the wound. It was very deep. There was a lot of blood. Elena wished that she had not looked. "Elena" Damon whispered.

"Let me give you some blood" she said. Damon slowly, shook his head no.

"It won't work, I'm bleeding too much" Damon managed to say. Elena could see that he was right. There was no way that a little bit of her blood would have been enough. Elena lay down on the ground next to Damon. She gently placed her head on his side. Damon was beginning to slip in and out of consciousness. Damon reached over, and began to stroke Elena's hair. Then he started to mumble "Elena" again. Elena looked over to him, with tears in her eyes. He gently brushed his cheek with her hand. "I already know" she whispered. Then the world went dark around Damon and his body was completely still. "I love you too" she whispered in his ear.


	2. Chapter 2

Elena is still lying with her head on Damon's side. She is weeping uncontrollably. Suddenly, Elena hears the rustling of leaves from behind her. She just barely lifts her head, only enough to see Stefan walking towards her. Stefan had heard the sounds of fighting from a far. Immediately, he rushed over to see what had taken place. Stefan kneels down next to Elena. He takes her head in his hands and says with his voice breaking "Elena you have to let go." Elena looks around dazedly to see where his voice was coming from.

" No ... Stefan... but Damon... and he and I..." she mumbled incoherently. With tears that stung like fire running down his cheeks, Stefan say, "Elena . . .he's gone." With that, Stefan gently picks up Elena and places her in his arms. He then proceeds to walk out of the forest carrying Elena the entire time.

The next morning Elena awakes screaming, crying, and shaking. "No don't!" she shouts. Then Elena turns over to feel the warm protective arms of Stefan around her. "Elena what's wrong?" he asked with undeniable concern. " Oh Stefan I just had the most horrifying nightmare" Elena said.  
" I was in the woods, and Tyler attacked me, and then . . . and then Damon he " ... she couldn't bring herself to finish sentence. Elena looked up into Stefan's face. She could tell by the redness that surrounded his eyes, and the look on his face, that it was not a nightmare after all. Then Elena buried her head in Stefan's chest and began to sob all over again.

Later that night, Elena enters her living room to eat dinner. She sits down at the table with Jenna and Jeremy. Jenna says "Elena what's wrong? You've barely touched your dinner." Elena responds by telling Jenna that she just wasn't hungry. Elena asked to be excused then headed to her room. It was only 8:00 pm but Elena decided that she was better off just going to sleep. Elena went into her room and turned off the lights. Elena pulled the covers up and was wondering how she could possibly sleep that night. Just as Elena was falling asleep, she felt something touch her hair. She sat up immediately and let out a horrifying scream. There, perched on the edge of her bed sat, Damon. "What are you doing here? You scared me to death!" she screamed at him. Then she slapped him hard across the face. "I thought that you that you . . . "were dead" Damon finished for her.  
"So is that the nice warm welcome back from the dead that I get Elena?" Damon said sarcastically. Elena looking embarrassed says "Sorry it's just that you scared me so much.  
"Apology accepted" Damon said.  
" I don't understand, I thought that a werewolf bite could kill a vampire," Elena said quietly.  
"The truth about a werewolf bite is that it induces a paralyzing death" Damon said. "It gives this illusion of death for about twenty four hours. It paralyzes your entire body. All of your senses slowly just seem to stop working. I just regained sensation and ability to move less than an hour ago. Imagine my surprise Elena when I woke up to find myself in the cellar of our house. Can you believe that? Good thing that there's no vervain down there anymore." Damon let out a small laugh. "Good old Stefan must still had some hope. Either that or he was in denial. Although I have to admit that I was pretty happy to wake up and still be an alive dead guy. You seem surprised too Elena." Damon stares into Elena's eyes, taking in her beauty. He could see her perfectly even in the darkness of the room.  
Damon did not give her a chance to respond. He began to run his hand once again through Elena's hair. He reached forward and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. Then Damon leaned over near Elena's ear and whispered " I already know too Elena." With that he was gone. Elena is left shocked and confused sitting in her bed in the dark. There was no trace of Damon now except for the curtains that blew in the breeze.


	3. Chapter 3

It is a Sunday morning at the Gilbert house. Elena gets up and walks down to the kitchen for a nice, relaxing breakfast. "Hey Elena I made some eggs but I've got to go. I have that job interview this morning and I'm already running late" Jenna sighed.  
"Ok good luck Jenna" Elena said, as Jenna ran straight past her and out the door. Jeremy comes downstairs.

"Hey Elena what's up? Where's Jenna off to?"  
"Oh some job interview Jer Elena explained. She already made breakfast though." Elena held up a plate of eggs for Jeremy to see.

Jeremy said "Uh- no thanks, think I'm gonna pass on that one. Cereal is looking better and better these days." Elena laughed. It was the first time that Elena had actually laughed in a while. As Elena was pouring her own bowl of cereal, there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it" Jeremy volunteered. Jeremy opens the door to find Damon standing there. "Oh Damon hello" Jeremy said with a mocking sincerity in his voice. Damon entered but walked straight past Jeremy to where Elena was sitting in the kitchen. As Jeremy was closing the door, Rose stepped inside. "Uh- hello. Who are-? Jeremy said with a look of confusion on his face. "Hello I'm Rose" she responded politely. Elena's face fell slightly as she saw Rose enter after Damon. Damon looks at Elena sternly and says, " We need to talk."  
"Ok Damon what is it that you want?" Elena asked fiercely.  
"I need to talk to you in your room" he said to her. Elena then responded, "Whatever you want to say to me you can say in front of Jeremy." Damon was not happy but he agreed. "Ok Damon what is it that you want?" Elena said vehemently. Damon then turns and gestures to Rose. Elena glances over in Rose's direction then looks back at Damon. Rose began to speak. "What Damon is so politely trying to tell you is that we have new information regarding the curse. Stefan has asked that we all meet back at the Salvatore place in an hour. He wants to discuss all of the information and make some kind of plan."  
"So wait a minute how come Damon doesn't want me to know about it? I already helped out once," Jeremy protested. Damon ran over to Jeremy in vamp speed. He placed both of his hands on Jeremy's shoulders. Elena gasped and screamed at Damon to let Jeremy go. Damon did not let up. Instead he said "You always have to be part of the action don't you? You're just like your sister. You're a Gilbert and you think that you're going to go all Indiana Jones on us. Well you're not. You're no hero Gilbert. You don't know what you're doing. That's why I didn't want you to know. Got it? But, you're going to do what you want anyway so I guess you might as well come" Damon griped. Then Damon loosened his grip and let go of Jeremy. Elena ran over to make sure that Jeremy is okay. "I'm fine Elena. Don't worry about it" Jeremy said.  
"Be there in one hour," Damon said. Then Damon left with Rose. Elena couldn't help but to notice how close Rose and Damon had seemed to be with one another in her house.

Elena and Jeremy knock on the door of the Salvatore house. Damon answers the door. "Welcome to the Avengers meeting" he smirked. Elena and Jeremy walked into the Salvatore house. Stefan, Alaric, Bonnie, and Caroline met them. "Ok well now that everyone is here we need to discuss the information that we have acquired Stefan said. Rose is the one who talked to Slater, so she will be telling us exactly what happened."  
"Well Damon and I went to see my friend Slater the other day. He called us to say that there is a way to have the moonstone de-spelled. He said that if we can get the moonstone then a witch would probably be able to figure out how to do this. All eyes then turned to Bonnie. Bonnie said, " Well if you can get the moonstone, I will take a look at it but I'm not making any promises."  
"That brings us to the next part of the discussion. We need to figure out how to get the moonstone," Stefan explained. "One of us will have to try to go into the tomb and get in from Katherine."  
"Yeah it will be like taking candy from a baby" Damon joked. "There's just one problem with that Stef. If any vampire goes into the tomb we might never come back out. We need to figure out a way to get the moonstone from Katherine and get out of the tomb."  
"Well I can do it" Jeremy volunteered.  
"Oh of course, the Lone Ranger wants to rescue everyone" Damon sneered.  
"Well actually he might be able to get the stone Alaric chimed in. Katherine would not be expecting Jeremy to try to get it from her. I can give him some of my weapons and vervain and he should be fine. Then he can get the moonstone and get out of there."  
"No I won't let him do that. It's too dangerous" Elena snapped.  
"You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do Elena. I want to do this. I want to help. And I _can_ help. You are putting yourself in constant danger Elena. I should be able to do this for the people that I care about too" Jeremy said.  
Elena was a bit shaken but finally she nodded her head in agreement. Then Damon stood up and said "Well I guess that settles everything. We will send Jeremy in to get the moonstone. Then we will have Bonnie figure out how to undo the spell. Problem solved."  
"No the problem is not solved. We still have to figure out how best to protect Elena from Klaus and how to handle our current werewolf situation." Stefan declared.  
"Let's tackle one problem at a time. After we retrieve the moonstone, and have Bonnie de-spell it, then we can figure out what to do" Alaric said.

Later that day Jeremy is getting ready to go down to the tomb. Alaric has shown him exactly how to use the weapons against Katherine when he gets down there. "Katherine will already be weak since she's been in the tomb Alaric said. You will have to stab her with the vervain as soon as you get in there. Then you will have to be ready to grab the moonstone and run" Alaric said seriously. Jeremy agreed and gathered some of the vervain and few small wooden stakes with him. Elena approached Jeremy. "Are you sure that you want to do this?" she asked, concern flooding her voice. "Yes Elena I'm sure" Jeremy responded. Stefan then accompanies Jeremy to the tomb. Stefan asks Jeremy once more if he is sure. Jeremy assures Stefan that he is. Stefan opens the tomb door. "Katherine come here" Stefan calls into the tomb. Katherine emerges from the darkness. "We need the moonstone and you're going to give it to us" Stefan said menacingly.  
"Oh Stefan you know how much I love it when you're forceful" Katherine said. You really expect me to believe that you're going to come in here and get it yourself? You and I both know, Stefan that you will get trapped in the tomb too. Well maybe that's what you want. After all, you are still in love with me whether you want to believe that or not" Katherine teased.  
"Hmm well Katherine you should know by now that we always have a plan B as well," Stefan said with a smile.  
Then Jeremy came out from hiding and shot vervain at Katherine. Katherine's body slid down the wall of the tomb. Jeremy entered the tomb and grabbed the moonstone from where it had fallen. Jeremy begins to run away from Katherine when he feels a hand reach out and grab him by the ankle. "You didn't think I'd let you get away that easily now did you?" Katherine asked. Katherine slowly gets up from where she had been lying on the floor. Katherine grabbed Jeremy around the neck with her arm. "Stefan I told you that I'm stronger than other vampires. It's about time that you started listening to me when I tell you things. Oh I bet that Elena forgot to mention that she gave me some blood during her visit to the tomb a few days ago she said. The blood gave me some of my strength back as well. Tell Elena thank you by the way. If you think that I'm lying you might want to ask Elena about it". Katherine smiled at Stefan." However, I can tell by your face that you believe me though. I guess your little princess might be a little more conniving then you give her credit for. She gets that from me you know." Katherine smirked and knew that she had gotten to Stefan. Then Katherine reached into Jeremy's pockets, taking away the small wooden stakes that had been hidden there. Katherine then ripped open part of her arm until the blood was flowing freely. Katherine reached up and forced the blood into Jeremy's mouth. "It will just take a few seconds for me to kill him Stefan. Is that what Elena would want? She can have a brand new vampire brother in a split second. I suggest that you call him off or I will turn him. There's no reason for me to give you the moonstone. It's probably safer in here with me anyhow. So what will it be do you want Jeremy or the moonstone? Make your choice wisely" Katherine said slyly.

"Actually Katherine I will be taking both with me" Stefan said calmly. At that moment both Damon and Alaric appeared from nearby. They both held guns loaded with small wooden stakes. "Ah Damon I should have known that you would never have missed an opportunity to come see me" Katherine said.  
"You're right Katherine. I would never miss an opportunity to come and see you suffer," sneered Damon. With that Alaric and Damon both shot Katherine in the legs with wooden stakes. Jeremy freed himself and was able to successfully get the moonstone out of the tomb. "Are you okay Jeremy? I'm sorry that she did that to you" Stefan said.  
"Yeah Stefan I'm okay. It looks like I did get to play Indiana Jones today after all huh Damon?" Jeremy replied. Damon gave Jeremy a quick glance but no actual reply. Then Damon shut the tomb door behind them as they left.

That night, Stefan walked over to the edge of forest, hidden from view. He came in just enough time for his meeting. "Hello Stefan. Did you get the moonstone?" a man asked.  
"Yes I have it" Stefan replied.  
"Well hand it over to me right now." Stefan handed the moonstone over to the man in the forest. "How is it that you can compel me? I'm a vampire he said.  
"Rose's friend Slater asked the exact same thing. I told him the same thing that I'm going to tell you. I'm a special vampire. I made Slater kill himself. I won't do that with you. You may prove to be useful," Elijah said.  
"We will get the moonstone back. You will not get Elena or anyone else for that matter" Stefan said through gritted teeth. "Once this compulsion wears off I will go back and tell everyone what happened. Then we will find you and kill you" Stefan threatened. Elijah merely laughed at him.  
"Yes go ahead and do that Stefan. I don't care. You will all have to deal with the consequences. I will be back. Klaus will come eventually and kill you all. It doesn't matter if you go back and tell everyone about me. You go right ahead. You will never be able to escape the death that awaits all of you" Elijah said. Then in an instant, Elijah was gone and Stefan was left standing alone in the forest.


	4. Chapter 4

"You gave away the moonstone! Damon shouted at Stefan. "How could you do that?" he demanded.  
"I already told you what happened Damon. I will explain it again for 100th time. Elijah is alive. He found me. He compelled me. Do you have any idea what that was like for me? Stefan yelled outraged. I don't even know how it is possible. It was disturbing. I knew the whole time what was going on. I was compelled to not say anything to anyone and to get the moonstone and bring it to him. Okay? Oh and just for the record, Elijah made Slater kill himself. I was lucky. Now, we have to figure out what to do about it" Stefan said calmly.  
"Well how come you can remember what happened? How do I know that you're not really a bad guy Stefan?" Damon asked with a big smirk on his face. Stefan gave a half smile in answer. Then he said, "I told you that I don't understand exactly how it works. All that I know is I knew what was happening when I was being compelled. I couldn't break the compulsion and yes I can remember that I was compelled. That is what I know. Now we have to figure out what to do about Elijah" Stefan replied. Stefan turned to Elena, who was sitting on the Salvatore couch in utter shock. Elena was staring out into space with a blank look on her face. "Elena what do you think?" Stefan asked. After a few more moments went by, Elena answered. " I . . . I just cannot believe this. You were compelled Stefan. That is terrifying. And I saw Damon stake Elijah with my own eyes. I don't even know what to think at this point," she stammered. "Well we have to figure out how to kill Elijah" Stefan said.  
"Oh I have an idea. Why don't we just go up to Elijah and say excuse me I wondering what I could use to kill you?" Damon said. Stefan just shook his head in disbelief. "Actually, I think that we should ask our resident monster legend expert, Alaric" Damon said seriously. "Maybe he has some useful information." Stefan agreed. Damon took his cell phone and dialed Rick's number. Soon enough, Alaric was at the Salvatore house, with all of Isobel's books and papers about vampires that he could find. "Well I don't remember Isobel ever mentioning anything about the Original vampires. "However, maybe she didn't tell me anything because I thought that vampires weren't real" Alaric confessed. Stefan, Damon. Alaric, and Elena searched through books for a couple of hours finding no new information. Finally, Elena says, "Here I think that I found something." Everyone rushed over to where Elena was standing. "In this paper Isobel wrote something about the "oldest vampires." There are many legends about the old ones, sometimes referred to as the originals she read aloud. The originals are said to be nearly impossible to kill because of the strength that they possess. It is also said that some conventional ways to kill vampires will not work on them. It says here that ash wood might kill them," Elena said. "So where can be find this ash wood?" Stefan asked. Damon looked up where ash wood might be found on the Internet.  
"It's about ten miles from here," Damon informed them. "You should go and collect some and I'll stay here with Elena" Stefan suggested.  
"You know Stefan, I don't need to be babysat Elena said stiffly. I will go home and you guys can call me when you know what you're doing." Stefan opened his mouth to protest, then thought better of it. Two hours later, Damon had returned with two ash sticks. Stefan said, "This is it? That's really all that there was?"  
"Sorry to disappoint you little bro but ash is hard to come by" Damon said. Stefan nodded. Then he said, "Okay well I guess that will have to do." Rose enters into the Salvatore living room. "Good afternoon boys. How are we doing today?" she asked.  
"Well everything is just peachy. Elijah is alive. He can't be killed except with this wood. And on top of that Stefan gave him the moonstone" Damon retorted. Rose's phone began to ring. She looked at the number and let out a gasp. "It's Slater," she said. She then answered the phone. "Hello" she said hesitantly. Rose listened intently to the man on the other end of the phone. After a couple of minutes she hung up the phone. Rose immediately put her hand over her face. "That was Elijah. He said that Slater is very much dead. He warned us that he wants Elena by tonight or he will come and get her, himself" Rose informed them.  
"Well he's not going to take her," Damon said fiercely. "Where does Elijah want us to meet him?" Stefan asked. "At Slater's house" Rose responded. Stefan and Damon went over to the Gilbert house to see Elena. Stefan informed Elena of the situation. Immediately, Elena said that she would go to meet Elijah at Slater's house if that is what he wanted. "You can't go it's too dangerous," Stefan protested. "Look Stefan, he is going to come and get me one way or the other. There is no point in sitting here waiting for him" she said. "This way you and Damon can get ready and maybe you can kill him. You're the one who told us how powerful and dangerous he is. You should at least get the chance to try and stop him, since he's not expecting you guys to be armed with ash" Elena reasoned with him. "I completely agree said Damon. "I think that we should get this now that we have the chance". We will be able to protect Elena" Damon said.

Within a half hour everyone was in the car and ready to go. Rose had given Damon instructions on how to get to Slater's house before they left. Rose stayed behind to help Alaric try and find anything else that may useful to them. Soon enough they were there. Damon, Elena, and Stefan got out of the car. They went into the house with stakes at vervain ready. When they entered the living room, they saw Slater's lifeless body lying on the floor. "So you decided to bring the doppelganger to me" a voice said from somewhere behind them. Stefan and Damon immediately turned around. There, in a dark corner stood Elijah. Elijah was every bit as calm and composed as he had been at their last meeting. Elijah took in the scene, looking everyone over. He paused as he saw Stefan and Damon's stakes. "Oh looks like you've learned something since the last time that we met. Actually I believe that it was only a few days ago, that I saw Damon's head peak out from the coffee shop window. Care to know how I did that? I only took a few quarters and was able to completely shatter the window. Just imagine what I'll be capable of with an entire house at my disposal?" Elijah asked. Stefan and Damon did not hesitate any longer. They both shot vervain at Elijah. He was hit by a little bit of the vervain. This had almost no effect on him. Damon got close enough to try to stab Elijah with the stake. He struck out with it and hit Elijah on the arm. Still, this attack did not seem to faze Elijah very much. Stefan came at Elijah from the other side. He was aiming at his chest. Elijah moved and was hit on the shoulder instead. Damon and Stefan continued to try and kill Elijah. Elijah successfully avoided most of the attacks on him. He did however; seem to be hurt a little. Then Elijah raced over and grabbed Elena around the neck. Immediately Stefan and Damon ceased what they were doing. "I have the girl. Put down the stakes and hand them over," Elijah commanded. Slowly, Stefan and Damon put the stakes down. Damon was seething with anger. "Don't hurt Elena!" Stefan commanded. Damon, not wasting a second rushed forward to try to get Elena away from Elijah. In one swift move, Elijah sidestepped Damon's attack. He threw Elena to the floor. She hit the floor with a thud a let out of gasp of pain. Elena's ankle was probably broken. "Elena!" Damon cried out. As Damon ran over toward Elena, he felt a searing pain in his back. Damon fell to the floor in agony. Elijah had stabbed him in the back with the ash stake. Stefan tried to run and help Damon. However, he found that he could not move. He was trapped where he stood, as though an invisible force field was all around him. Then a door creaked open and a figure emerged. "Ah Jonas, right on time as usual" Elijah said. "See boys now I have the moonstone, the doppelganger, and a warlock. What else it is that I'm missing? Oh yeah a vampire and a werewolf." With that, another door was opened and out walked Caroline and Tyler. Elena slowly got up, trying to ignore the pain in her ankle. She walked over to where Damon was lying on floor. "Damon are you ok? We're going to be ok" she reassured him.  
"You see I did my homework too. You didn't think that you were the only special assignment while I was in Mystic Falls did you Stefan? I gathered some very valuable information. Thank you Jonas for your help too. You realize that your blonde friend here is quite the wealth of information. This vampire compulsion thing is so useful. Then of course, there is the werewolf. Those are trickier to come by. However, no compulsion was necessary here. He was more than willing to help once Caroline told him what really happened to his dear Uncle. I know that your wondering how I know about Mason Lockwood. Let's just say that I have my sources as well. I knew that he was a werewolf. I knew that he had visited Mystic Falls. Then I was told that Mason never arrived back in Florida. I simply had to ask Caroline, here what happened. She was very willing to help me. Caroline was across the room. Even from where Elena stood, she could see her friend shaking with fear. Caroline was crying. She did not want to do this but she had no choice. Damon was trying to get up from where he had fallen. He turned to look at Elijah. "Let Elena go" he said through gritted teeth. Elijah turned to stare at Damon. He walked over to where Damon was. Elijah turned to stare at Damon. He walked over to where Damon was. "Well look who wants to be the hero" Elijah mocked. "Let's see what happens when I do something to Elena" he said. Elijah walked over to where Elena was standing, still trying to ignore the pain. Elijah grabbed Elena by the wrist and began to twist it. "Ahh! She screamed out in agonizing pain. "I told you to leave Elena alone!" Damon yelled. Damon grabbed the other stake from the floor. He hit Elijah in the back with it. Elijah groaned and his back began to bleed a little. Now, Elijah was beyond angry. He took the stake and stabbed Damon with it. He held him back so that everyone could watch. "Here do you want to see what happens when a vampire gets stabbed with and ash stake?" he asked. He showed them the wound in Damon's back. "Now that's not enough now it is?" Elijah hissed. He took the stake and stabbed Damon in the arm and the leg. Elena was crying at this point. "Please stop hurting him," she begged. Stefan was still trapped, not being able to move in the middle of the living room. There was nothing that he could do for his brother. Elijah began to speak again. "Well perhaps just one more demonstration will be enough to show you that I mean business," he said gruffly. With that, he took the stake and cut Damon's abdomen with it. Damon sighed and grasped at his new wound. "Now Jonas take Tyler and Caroline to the car. I'll be there in a moment," Elijah commanded. "I'll be nice with you this time. You can keep your doppelganger girl for now. Klaus will come for her soon. Take this as a warning. Now you know exactly what I am capable of doing. I have all the rest of the ingredients needed to break the curse. I hope you all realize now that you cannot defeat me. Klaus is going to want to come and get her personally. Then you all will know his true power and wrath," Elijah explained. Then he turned and spoke directly to Damon. "You're going to end up getting yourself killed for this girl you know," he hissed. "It will be well worth it" Damon spat at Elijah. Then Elijah walked out of the house and disappeared. Stefan found that he was able to move again. He rushed over to Damon to try and help him up. "You're bleeding pretty badly," Stefan said. "I know Stef" Damon replied. "We need to get you some blood. Do you have any more blood bags in the car?" Stefan asked. "No I drank the last one on the way up here" Damon responded. "I'll do it" Elena said. I'll give him blood". Stefan looked at Elena then at Damon. He couldn't deny that this was probably the only solution. "Are you sure Elena you're hurt. Stefan asked her. "Stefan look at him, he's bleeding too much to not have any blood. This is the only way," Elena told him. Elena slowly walked over to Damon. She reached over and handed him the wrist that was not broken. Damon took Elena's wrist and bit into it. Elena's blood tasted like honey on his lips. Damon drank from her for a few moments. Then he stopped at looked up at Elena. "Thank you" he said warmly. Elena could tell how much he really meant what he said to her. "You're welcome" she responded. In that moment Elena and Damon stared into each other's eyes. It was nothing like Elena had ever felt before. Elena had even forgotten that Stefan was still in the room. In that moment, everything changed for Damon. He saw a sparkle in Elena's eyes that he never fully appreciated before. Damon decided that he never wanted to see this moment end. He knew the reality of his situation though. This moment could never last. It was over much too soon for both Damon and Elena, though she would not admit it. Then Damon, Elena, and Stefan drove back to Mystic Falls in silence.

It was after ten when Elena knocked on the door to the Salvatore house. Damon answered the door. "Hello Elena come in," he said to her. Damon noticed that Elena was limping. "Here let me help you," he offered. Elena reached out to grab onto his arm. "Thank you" she said. Damon guided Elena over to the couch, picked her up, and placed her on it. "You're going to have to have that looked at," Damon said pointing to Elena's ankle. "Yes, I'm going to the doctor tomorrow. He is probably going to have to put a splint or something on it" Elena said." The doctor will probably have to take a look at my wrist as well "Elena continued. "Stefan isn't here he went to the grill to find Bonnie and tell her what happened" Damon explained.  
"That's okay I'm not here to see Stefan" Elena answered. Damon looked at her, not sure whether to believe what she said." Thank you for saving me today Elena said. "I'm so sorry that you got hurt." "I'm fine Elena" Damon lied. Elena looked at him and could tell that he was lying. Then she looked at his arm. "Damon you're arm, it's still not healed" she said fervently. Damon assured Elena that it was nothing and that it would heal soon. Elena grabbed Damon's shirt and lifted it up. She gasped. "Damon this cut is bad. "None of these have healed yet." Elena looked very concerned. "Like I said Elena, it will heal. It's really not a big deal. I've got blood bags here, I'll be fine" Damon said nonchalantly. Elena shook her head. Damon look if you need more blood, I'll give it to you" Elena said. "Now come on Elena, it's ok. I'm fine honestly," Damon protested. Then she offered him the wrist that was unharmed. Damon stared at Elena in wonder. He took her wrist into his hands but instead of biting, he gently kissed her skin. Elena stared into Damon's eyes. It was just as it been earlier in the day when she had given him her blood. Damon wrapped his hand around hers. "Elena I just want to thank you again " Damon said seriously. "Don't worry about it," she said gently. Elena couldn't help looking into Damon's electric blue eyes. She could get lost in them forever, she realized. Elena looked down at her hands and noticed that they were shaking slightly. At this moment in time Damon decided he never wanted anything to be different. He wanted to stay with Elena like this for all of eternity. He wanted to cherish her, exactly like this. Then without knowing how, Elena found her lips upon his. She was kissing Damon and she could not think of anything else. No time seemed to pass as Damon and Elena kissed and embraced each other. All too soon, the kiss was over. Elena stood up abruptly and walked to the door. "I have to go," she mumbled to Damon as she tried to get to the door. Damon helped Elena walk back across the room. Damon and Elena stared at each other once more before the door was closed and Damon found himself sitting by the fireplace alone.


	5. Chapter 5

_**It was two days after, Elena had kissed Damon. She had been trying to avoid him completely. Elena walked into the grill to find Bonnie and Jeremy playing pool. "Hey Elena" Bonnie said. She motioned for Elena to come over to the pool table. "Your brother is beating me again" Bonnie announced. "I wouldn't say that I'm beating you Bonnie. I would say that it is more like a massacre" Jeremy teased. "So Bonnie Stefan told you what happened right?" Elena asked. "Yeah he did" Bonnie answered. "Didn't Stefan tell you about it?" she asked. Elena shook her head no. "Well then how do you even know that I talked to Stefan?" Bonnie asked. Elena said "Uh- well Damon told me." "Have you seen Caroline? I really need to talk to her" Elena said. "I don't know I think that she might be at home" Bonnie said. "Okay thanks" Elena replied. Then Elena left the grill and headed over to Caroline's house. **_

_**Elena knocked on the door and Caroline's mom answered. "Hello Sheriff Forbes is Caroline home?" Elena asked. "Yes, she's here" her mother answered. Elena came in and went straight to Caroline's room. She knocked on the door. Elena heard Caroline say "Come in" from the other side of the door. Elena walked into Caroline's room. "It's been a while since I've been in here" Elena said, reminiscing about the other times she had been here when her life had been less chaotic. "So Elena what's up?" Caroline asked. "Well Caroline I need to ask you about Elijah. What was it that he compelled you to do?" asked Elena. "Look Elena, he told me to do a couple of different things. The first thing that he asked me to do was to tell him about Mason. Then he forced me to come with him. I have to admit that part was not compulsion. I went with him because I was terrified. Now I'm supposed to do something else but I'm not allowed to tell anyone what it is" Caroline said. "Oh my gosh Caroline what are we going to do?" Elena asked pleadingly. "I don't know Elena but I'm so scared for Tyler. He hates Damon and he will anything that Elijah tells him to" Caroline said seriously. "I just hate that there is nothing that I can do Elena. Caroline began to cry. "I want to be able to tell you but I can't . . . I know what he is going to do." Caroline told her. "It's ok Caroline. We will try and figure out what he is going to do on our own." Elena reassured her. Then Elena gave Caroline a hug. Elena said "I'll call you later". Caroline nodded. Then Elena left Caroline's house and went back home.**_

_**Stefan and Damon were in the living room at the Salvatore house. "We have a huge problem on our hands now" Stefan said. "Oh Stefan when don't we have a problem?" Damon replied. "Here" he said as he offered Stefan a glass full of blood. Stefan took the glass and had drank the whole thing in one gulp. "Whoa, easy there Stef. We're running low on blood bags as it is. Plus I don't need you going all crazy on human blood again. **_

"_**Sorry, I just want to make sure that I'm strong enough to take on Elijah" Stefan said. "The more blood I drink, the stronger I'm going to be." "Well yeah, I guess" Damon agreed, "but drinking human blood doesn't do much against an Original as I found out the hard way", he said, grimacing at the thought. " I'm going to go visit Elena" Stefan announced. Stefan noticed that Damon's face changed abruptly when Elena's name was mentioned. Damon had been giving subtle hints for the last two days, that he did not want to be around Elena. Damon thought that Stefan hadn't noticed, but he was wrong. See you later then little bro" Damon said smugly. Then Stefan left to go and talk to Elena.**_

_**Stefan knocked on Elena's door. Jeremy answered. "Is Elena here?" Stefan asked. "Um yeah, she's up in her room Stefan. "Thanks Jeremy" Stefan said, as he entered and began to walk upstairs. "Elena?" Stefan asked as he saw that Elena's door was open. Elena emerged into the entryway of her room and the hall. "Yes Stefan" Elena answered. "What are you doing here?" she asked politely. "You can come in if you want, Stefan" Elena said. Stefan came in and sat on the bed. "Well I wanted to let you know that I talked to Bonnie" he stammered. "Yes, I uh already talked to Bonnie" Elena told him. "Well then I wanted to tell you that I'm going to talk with Caroline" Stefan said. "I already talked to Caroline too" Elena said. "Oh you did?" Stefan asked, surprised. "Yes" Elena answered. Then Elena relayed the information that Caroline had told her. "We are going to have to try and figure out what else Elijah wants Caroline to do. But how?" he asked, wonderingly. "I don't know" Elena admitted. "We don't have any idea of what Elijah is going to do" Elena stated. "I know. We are going to have to try to figure it out. We also need to come up with a better plan to defeat Elijah. We have to be more organized" Stefan said. "Have you seen Damon lately?" Stefan asked suddenly. Elena was startled by the sudden turn in the conversation. She looked distraught. "I um no. I haven't seen him for the last two days" Elena said. "Why do you ask Stefan?" "Is he okay?" she added in as an afterthought. "Well, Elena he's been acting kind of strange. I mean strange even for Damon. He seems to be really distracted by something. Then every time that your name is mentioned, he seems to tense up" Stefan explained. "Elena-" he paused. Stefan swallowed, as if he as just eaten a big piece of steak. "Elena I have to ask. Did anything happen between the two of you? I mean besides for Damon taking some of your blood?" he choked out the last words. Then Elena stared directly at Stefan "No, nothing happened" she lied. It killed Elena to lie to Stefan. Despite the fact that they were broken up, she realized how much she still loved him. Elena reminded herself, that even though she had said that loved Damon, that she didn't. Did she? Elena couldn't think about that right now. She looked up at Stefan and could tell that he believed what she had said. Knowing that, hurt Elena even more. "Ok Elena well can you come over to our house tomorrow night so we discuss what we're going to do?" he asked. "I can't Stefan, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Jenna is cooking a big meal." "Oh that's right, I guess I forgot about Thanksgiving, since I'm a vampire" Stefan said. "You're welcome to come over tomorrow night and pretend to eat" Elena said. Then she smiled. "I'll have to think that over" Stefan responded. Then he Stefan left Elena's house, feeling slightly better.**_

_**The next day was Thanksgiving. Everyone was busy running around the house. Elena had invited Matt and Bonnie over. They were supposed to be there any minute. Elena was trying to help Jenna with everything that she could. "Oh my gosh, Elena I'm never going to finish everything in time" Jenna whined. "Don't worry Jenna. Everything is going to turn out ok. Alaric should be here soon. He will be able to help. "Who ever decided that dinner should be at 3:00 anyhow?" Jenna demanded. It's so stupid. Everyone has to rush everything" she complained. Finally, the dinner was done and ready to be served. Matt and Alaric were there. Elena noticed that there were two more places set at the table. "Hey Jenna how come there are eight places set here instead of six?" Elena asked. "Oh Elena I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you that I invited two more guests to dinner. Before Elena could ask who, there was a knock at the door. Elena went to answer the door. Elena opened the door and had to bite her tongue to stop herself from screaming. Standing, in her doorway was Luka and his father, Jonas. Elena looked horror stricken. She stepped aside, and they came in. "Why hello Dr. Martin I'm so glad that you and your son could make it" Jenna said pleasantly. "Thank you so much for having us" Dr. Martin said. "This is my son, Luka. Bonnie looked back and forth between Elena, Luka, and Dr. Martin. It seemed that Jeremy was also very unhappy at the current situation. However, none of them had been with Elena, Damon and Stefan that night. They didn't know who Dr. Martin was. Elena had been unaware, that the boy whom Bonnie had introduced, an evil warlock for a father. Elena was unable to express this, of course as dinner was about to start. Elena turned to look at Dr. Martin. "Why are you here for Thanksgiving?" Elena blurted out. "Elena don't be rude" Jenna hissed at her. "I'm sorry I didn't mean it the way that it came out" she said. "Oh don't worry about Elena" Dr, Martin said. "Well your aunt Jenna is a patient of mine. I have been seeing her on a regular basis since, she came across that unfortunate stab wound. I've been treating her for a couple of weeks now. I've been talking to your aunt and I've told her our story. You see, my wife, Luka's mother, passed away a few years ago. Neither one of us is really a very good cook. Your Aunt was kind enough to invite Luka and I over for Thanksgiving" he explained. Elena looked from Jenna to Jonas Martin and back again. Elena could not understand why Jonas would want to convince Jenna to let him and Luka come here for Thanksgiving. After what seemed like hours, Thanksgiving dinner was finally over. "Thank you so much for this lovely dinner Ms. Sommers" Dr, Martin said politely. "Oh Dr, Martin you can call me Jenna, you know that" Jenna said. "Okay well thank you Jenna for a wonderful evening" he said. Luka walked over to Bonnie. "Hey Bonnie I guess I'll see you around school" he said. "Yeah I'll see you Luka" Bonnie said. Luka leaned in a little closer and reached for Bonnie's hand. He kissed it. "Until next time" he said to Bonnie slyly. Bonnie smiled at him in reply. Then Luka and his father left. Elena immediately gathered Bonnie and Jeremy and told them exactly what was going on. "Jonas Martin is working with Elijah" Elena explained. Both Bonnie and Jeremy looked devastated. "What are we going to do?" Jeremy asked. " I don't know yet Jeremy" Elena responded. "I'm going to have to tell Stefan and Damon immediately. Within a few minutes, Stefan and Damon were at the Gilbert house. "Jonas and his son were here" Stefan said. "I can't understand it" Stefan said, frustrated. "Well they don't need to be invited in, since they're not vampires" Damon said. "They must have been here for another reason. Maybe Elijah wants a layout of the house" Damon suggested. "Yeah that could be true" Stefan agreed. "Elijah would need to be invited in though and he wasn't here" Stefan reasoned. "In any case, I think that we should set up 24 hour surveillance on this house" Stefan said. He turned to Elena. You have to be protected Elena" Stefan told her. "Uh- Stefan" Elena began. "If Elijah is going to kidnap me, he will find a way to do it. We know this already" Elena said. "Yes Elena, that true. Does that mean that we should not try to keep you safe though?" Stefan asked angrily. "Fine" Elena agreed. "Damon will you take the first watch?" Stefan asked.**_

"_**Yes, Stefan I would love to be the first guard on the night watch" Damon sneered. "Ok, well be careful" he said to Elena. Elena nodded. Stefan, Alaric, Bonnie, and Matt left the Gilbert house. "Well Elena looks like it's just you and me again" Damon said. "Damon-" Elena began. "We have to talk about the other night" she finished, calmly. "Oh yes, Elena the other night" Damon said. "Well I don't have much to say about that do?" Damon asked. "Well I don't know" Elena said defeated. "Look Elena it's obvious that you're still in love in with Stefan. I'll be fine on my own. Always have. Always will" Damon said. Elena moved closer to Damon. She reached out a hand and gently stroked his face with it. Damon stared at Elena, momentarily, then stopped. He grabbed Elena's hand. "See this is what I mean. I can't do this**_** Elena" he said quietly. "I know how you feel about me. And I know how I feel about you. But I can't do **_**this **_**again. You have to choose one or the other Elena. You can't have it both ways. It's obvious that you really only want one thing anyhow. We both how much you love Stefan" he said sounding, totally defeated. "Damon I don't want it to be like this. Do you think that I want to have feelings for both of you? I don't. I'm not Katherine. I don't want to be" she sobbed. "You won't be Katherine, Elena" Damon reassured her. He looked at Elena and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I won't let you be like Katherine. You don't have to make that choice. I've already made it for you" he said. Elena looked scared. "Don't worry Elena, I'm not going to go snapping anyone's neck. I'm just going outside to be on watch, like I'm supposed to be" he said. Then Damon left and went outside the Gilbert house.**

**The night was quiet. Damon was very alert the entire time. Nothing happened. The next day Elena and Jeremy were at school. Jenna was getting ready to leave to go to work. Jenna was closing the front door, when she heard a familiar voice behind her. "Jenna I'm so sorry to bother you but I think that I may have left something here yesterday" Dr. Martin said. . "Dr. Martin, you startled me" Jenna said. "I'm sorry about that. It's just that I believe I may accidentally left my watch here, after I took it off to wash my hands yesterday. You see it is very important because it is just on loan. It really belongs to my friend, here" he said. He gestured to the man next to him. "Is it alright if we both go in and look for it?" Dr. Martin asked? "Well yes, you can both go on in to get" Jenna said. "I have to leave for work soon though. Will it take long?" she asked. "Oh not at all" he responded. Jonas and the his friend walked into Jenna's house. A few minutes later, they emerged. "Did you find what you were looking for" Jenna asked. "Yes I did. Thank you so much Jenna" Jonas said. Then the two men left the Gilbert house, having accomplished exactly what was needed.**


	6. Chapter 6

"No!" Elena screamed. She fell to the ground on her knees. "Please don't" she begged. Damon and Stefan were lying on floor. Their hands and feet were tied with vervain ropes. Elijah walked around the Salvatore brothers. "You must give me what I want then" he said calmly. Elena agreed.

"I'll do anything" she promised. Stefan looked up at Elena.

"No don't Elena" he protested.

"I have to Stefan" Elena said through her tears. Then she looked over to Damon.

"Elena, you don't have to do this" he said. Elena got up from where she had been on the floor. "Come with me now" Elijah commanded. Elena did what she was told. Elijah walked over toward and ripped off her vervain necklace. "Now stay right there. Do not move, no matter what happens" he instructed. Elijah walked over to Stefan. Elijah took a wooden stake and plunged it through Stefan's heart. Elena screamed and began to weep hysterically. She did not move though. Then Elijah walked over to Damon, took another stake and stuck it through his heart. Elena screamed out "No!" Then Elijah took Elena's vervain necklace and hung it around the stake that was sticking out of Damon's chest. Elena broke down and was sobbing. There was nothing that she could do as she watched Stefan and Damon's bodies turn gray right before her eyes.

Elena awoke screaming, and sobbing uncontrollably. She looked over at her clock. It was 3:00 am. "Elena are you ok? What's wrong?" a voice asked.

"Oh Stefan, I had the most horrible nightmare" Elena said, with her voice still shaking. Just then, she heard voices and footsteps in the hallway. It was Jenna and Jeremy. Jenna rushed in and turned on the light. "What happened Elena?" she asked, with concern flooding her voice. "I'm fine" Elena lied quickly. "I just had a nightmare, that's all" she assured Jenna. Jeremy was still standing in the hallway. Jenna was sitting on the bed with Elena. "Are you sure that you're ok?" she asked again. Do you want me to get you anything?" Jenna asked quietly. Elena shook her head no. After a few more minutes, Jenna left Elena's room and went back to bed. Jeremy was still staring at her, as though she might fall apart any minute. "Were you dreaming about- he didn't finish. He could tell by the look that Elena had given him that he already knew what it was about. "Um ok Elena I'm gonna go back to bed then" Jeremy said.

"Alright goodnight Jeremy" Elena said. Then she got up and closed the door. "It's ok you can come out now Stefan" she said. Stefan came out from hiding in Elena's bathroom. He walked over to her and gave her a hug. "Elena what happened in your nightmare?" he asked, curiously. Elena took a deep breath. Then she began to tell Stefan what had happened. "He killed you". "He killed Damon too". "You guys were both gone and there was nothing that I could do about it" she cried. "It's ok Elena. It was just a nightmare. I was on lookout, outside, and I came in as soon as I heard you scream" Stefan explained. "Now Elena try to go back to sleep. If you need me, I'll be right outside" Stefan assured her. Stefan gave Elena a quick kiss on the cheek. Then he went back outside to continue his watch.

It was later that day at the Salvatore house. "Hey Stefan how was the your nightly watch?" Damon asked. Stefan sat down on the couch. "Elena woke up early this morning with a horrible nightmare" Stefan explained. "No wonder she was scared, you were protecting her last night" Damon retorted. Stefan just ignored him and continued. He told Damon what Elena had told him. Damon sat down on the couch next to Stefan. He looked concerned. "What is it Damon?" Stefan asked. "I can tell that you're thinking about something" he said.

"I was just thinking how much I would love to rip Elijah and that Jonas guy apart" Damon said, nonchalantly. "Damon please don't do something impulsive and stupid" Stefan said, pleadingly. Damon turned to look at Stefan and gave him a sly smile. "Now Stefan, why would I ever do something like that?" Damon teased. Stefan merely shook his head in reply. "Now I'm gonna go down to the grill for a drink. Want to come?" he asked Stefan.

"Um- no thanks I've got stuff that I have to do here" Stefan replied.

"Oh that's right, Stefan, you need to go and make a trip down to the blood banks. We're running very low" Damon said.

Elena, Bonnie, Jeremy, and Caroline decided to go to the grill after school. "How are you Elena?" Caroline asked. "Did you guys figure out anything new?" she asked, lowering her voice. "No" Elena responded. "We still have to find out why Jonas and Luka were in our house" Elena told her. Suddenly, a voice called out "Hey guys how are you?" They all looked up to see Luka walking toward them. "Oh no" Elena sighed. Luka looked straight up to Bonnie. "Well hello Bonnie. You look very nice today" he said, charmingly. "Thanks Luka, but you can drop the act because everyone already knows about you" Bonnie said, fiercely. Luka looked deeply offended. "I don't know what you're talking about Bonnie" he insisted. Then he placed his arm around her shoulder. Bonnie looked uncomfortable and tried to shrug him off. Luka refused to move his arm. "Hey look Luka, Bonnie obviously does not want you to touch her so why don't you just back off?" Jeremy said, angrily. "You know, Jeremy I didn't hear Bonnie say that she needed your help so maybe you should just stay away" Luka said.

"I'm not going to tell you again Luka, take your hands off of her" Jeremy said, through gritted teeth. "Jeremy-" Elena warned. "Don't do anything stupid" she said.

Why don't you just mind your own business Elena?" Jeremy said stubbornly. Jeremy moved closer towards Luka. Then without any further hesitation Jeremy punched Luka in the face. Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline were stunned. Luka and Jeremy hurled punches at each other. Everyone in the restaurant was watching but no one stepped in to help. Elena tried to get Jeremy away from Luka and was pushed to the ground. "Are you alright Elena?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes Bonnie I'm fine" Elena said as she got up off of the floor. Caroline did not want to help for fear that everyone would see her vampire strength. Then the two boys were suddenly separated. Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline looked around to see that Damon had restrained Jeremy. Meanwhile, Alaric had managed to grab Luka. Alaric let go of Luka and then he left, angrily. "You guys came out of nowhere" Elena said to Damon.

"Yeah well, I just came here for a beer. Rick was - well I don't know what Rick is doing here" Damon admitted. "

Well thank you, both of you" Elena said to them.

"I didn't need any help" Jeremy complained.

"Come on, Jeremy you know that you shouldn't be fighting with him, he's dangerous" Alaric said. "What were you thinking? Are you totally insane?" Damon yelled at Jeremy. " Like you're one to talk Damon" Jeremy said snidely. Damon looked for a moment, like he was going to throw Jeremy into the wall. Damon saw the look in Elena's eyes, and swiftly decided against it. "I'm out of here" Jeremy announced. With that, he left the grill. Elena stared after him for a moment, then turned back to her friends. "Now if you all will excuse me, I will be at the bar" Damon said.

"I've got to go now too" Elena said. Then she left and went back home.

"Hey Elena what's up?" Jenna asked when Elena got home. Before answering, Elena said "Is Jeremy home?"

"No he's not" Jenna replied. "Why?" she asked suspiciously. Elena then began to recount the story of what happened at the grill. "Uh- I can't believe that he did that" she sighed. "I'm going to have to talk to him" she said, exasperated. "Luka's dad has always been really nice to me. I hope that he will understand." Jenna said. Elena was unsure how to respond to Jenna's remark. "Well at least he found his friend's watch that he was looking for she said, happily. "It would have been bad if he thought that Jeremy had stolen it or something" Jenna added.

"Wait what are you talking about?" Elena asked. Jenna told Elena what had happened the day after Thanksgiving. Jenna told her how Jonas had forgotten the watch and how his friend had helped to look for it. Elena's face suddenly went cold. Jenna was confused. "Elena what's wrong with you?" she asked. Elena did not answer as she ran upstairs to call Stefan. Elena relayed to Stefan, all of the information that Jenna had told her. Stefan came over to Elena's house to discuss what everything meant. "So she said that Jonas conveniently came back to your house when both you and Jeremy were at school. Then he told Jenna some story about having left his friend's watch inside" Stefan repeated to Elena. Stefan then voiced what Elena had been thinking. "So it would seem as though Jonas' friend was probably Elijah" he said quietly.

"Yes, that's what I was thinking as well" Elena admitted. "Stefan what are we going to do?" "If it is Elijah that was invited in then how are we going to stop him?" she asked, concerned. "I don't know yet Elena. I promise that we will come up with a plan to defeat him" Stefan said. "Damon and I will both be here tonight, in case anything should happen" he assured her.

That night, it happened again. Elena woke up screaming. Again, Jenna rushed in. "Elena what happened?" she asked. Elena told her not to worry. "It's nothing I just had another nightmare" she told Jenna. Jenna was looking extremely concerned. After a few minutes, Elena had convinced Jenna to go back to sleep. Damon and Stefan walked out from where they were hiding. "Elena are you ok?" Stefan asked.

"Yes Stefan I'm ok" Elena responded, robotically. Elena looked down at the sheets on her bed. She was still very visibly shaken. "Elena" Damon said, seriously. He walked closer to her. Damon sat down on the bed, at Elena's feet. Then he looked straight into her eyes. Damon gently grabbed Elena by the hand and placed it in his. "You have to tell us exactly what happened. It's really important" he said. Stefan looked back and forth between the two of them. He was very uncomfortable. There was something about the way that they looked at each other that made him sick to his stomach. Stefan decided that there were more pressing issues, that he had to be concerned with right now. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind. Elena then told what happened. "It was the same dream from the other night" she said. "Actually there was one difference in the dream this time. "Elijah took my vervain necklace and placed it around the stake that - that had killed Stefan" she said quietly. "It just seems so real" Elena said.

"What does this all mean?" Stefan asked, frustrated. Damon stood up. He looked as though, he were deep in thought. "What?" Stefan asked.

"Well Stefan I don't think that you're going to like what I'm thinking" he answered. "You know how vampires can manipulate dreams right?" he asked. Elena and Stefan both nodded. "Yes Katherine did that to me a few weeks ago" Stefan admitted. "Well do you think it's possible that Elijah has been manipulating Elena's dreams?" Damon asked. Elena looked up at Damon. He could see how scared she was. He gave her a reassuring smile. "You don't have to be afraid, Elena we will keep you safe" Damon said to her. Elena couldn't help but to give him a small smile in return. She did manage to feel a little bit better. She knew, that above all else, Damon always kept his word.

"Ok well Stefan and I are going to be watching out for anything weird that might be going" Damon told Elena.

"You should try to go back to sleep" Stefan said. Elena laid back down on her bed and after a while, found that she was sleeping. What Stefan and Damon did not know, was that they would not be able to keep their promise.

The next morning Elena woke up. The sun was already streaming through the window. Immediately, she knew that something was wrong. Elena touched her neck, automatically.

She realized, with horror, that her necklace was gone. Elena never took her necklace off. She always kept it on even when she was sleeping. Elena looked all over her room. She could not find it. Elena got dressed and went downstairs. Everything seemed normal. Jenna was in the kitchen. Jeremy was still sleeping. "Hello Elena" Jenna said warmly. "How are you this morning?" she asked.

"I'm fine" she quickly lied. Then Elena went outside. She wasn't sure what she was searching for but she could tell that something was wrong. She went around back. It was then that she saw it. There was a large stick, poking out of the ground. As Elena walked closer she could see that there was dirt covering something under the wooden stick. Elena was so scared at what she would see. Elena searched desperately for something to dig up the spot in the ground. She found a shovel nearby. Then Elena uncovered the dirt and screamed. There in the ground was a body. For a split second she thought that it was Damon or Stefan. Then Elena took a closer look and saw that it was female. The girl that lay in the ground with a stake through her chest was Rose. Then Elena noticed something that she had not seen before. Elena looked and saw that her vervain necklace was hung up around the stake. Elena reached out, and took the necklace off with shaking hands. Then she walked away and went to her front porch. Elena began to dial a number on her phone. Before it even stopped ringing, she saw a figure approaching. It was Damon. He saw that Elena was crying. Then he leaned over and gave her a hug. He picked up Elena and placed her in his lap. It was as though he were calming down, a small, defenseless puppy. "Shh - it's okay Elena" Damon said. Elena was clinging to his neck. "He killed her, Damon. He killed Rose. It's my fault. Everything is my fault" she sobbed. Then a sudden thought struck Elena. "What happened last night?" she asked him "Stefan was out front. I was out back. He must have gotten to Stefan first. He told us both the same thing. He compelled us both to think that we could leave. He told us both that Rose was going to come protect you. Then he compelled us to go back to our house until daylight. "Stefan should be here any minute" he added. "Well what is Elijah going to do?" she asked. There was a brief pause before Damon answered. "Elena the question is not what Elijah is going to do. The question is what is Klaus going to do?" he said. Elena looked up at Damon, horrorstruck. "Klaus" she repeated. Damon nodded his head. Damon gently placed Elena back in her own chair. He kissed her forehead. Then Damon and Elena sat on the porch together, taking in the beauty that surrounded them. They both knew that what they were looking at would soon be changed forever.


	7. Chapter 7

Only a couple of hours had passed since Elena had found Rose in the backyard. She was at the Salvatore house with Stefan and Damon. "So Klaus compelled you both to forget what he looked like?" Elena asked.

"Yes, he did. This presents us with an even larger problem" Stefan said. "Obviously, if we don't know what he looks like, then it will be harder for us to find him" Stefan explained. "That means that he could be anyone. It's going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack Stefan" Damon added. Stefan nodded his head in agreement. Everyone was extremely concerned. Elena could even tell that Damon was worried. He was so good at masking his feelings, but Elena could tell exactly what he was thinking. "So I trust that you took care of Rose" Stefan said, turning towards Damon.

"Yeah" Damon answered, swiftly. Elena got up from where she was sitting.

"Well for now, I'm going to go home. I'm going to have to tell Jeremy what happened" Elena told them. Elena walked over to the door to leave. Immediately, Stefan was right beside her. "I'm not going to let you go back home alone. It isn't safe" Stefan said fiercely.

"Stefan I will be fine. You can't always be there to protect me twenty-four seven" Elena said defiantly. Stefan did not move. Elena looked over at Damon for help. Instead, he just walked over to where Stefan and Elena were standing. Damon sighed. "Sorry Elena, but I as much as I hate to admit it, I think that Stefan may be right about this. Klaus has been inside of your house. He was just outside of the house not three hours ago. He killed Rose" Damon said, seriously. Damon was staring deep into Elena's eyes. It was almost as though, he could see into her very soul. Elena felt almost lightheaded for a split second.

It was strange. Three weeks passed, with no sign of Klaus at all. Stefan, Damon and Elena were discussing this subject at the Salvatore house. "I think that Klaus is just biding his time. He must be trying to play games with us" Stefan said, resolutely.

"Why isn't he doing anything though?" Damon asked. "He should be trying to get our attention at least right?" Damon said

"No I think he just wants us to think that we are safe. Then when we are least expecting it, he is going to make his move" Stefan said.

"Well then I guess that we will have to prepared when Klaus does decide to emerge" chimed in, Elena. "It's almost Christmas", she added, as an afterthought. "I'm going to go over to Bonnie's house" Elena announced. Elena left the Salvatore house and drove over to Bonnie's.

Elena rang the doorbell. After a minute, Bonnie came to door. "Elena come in" she said. Bonnie had a confused look on her face. "What are you doing here?" she asked Elena.

"I need your help Bonnie. We need to call Caroline as well. She needs to come over here now" Elena said forcefully.

"Um- ok Elena" Bonnie said. "What is it that you want me to do though?" she asked hesitantly.

"I will explain everything just as soon as Caroline gets here" Elena promised. In about fifteen minutes Caroline had arrived at Bonnie's house. She came in looking just as confused as Bonnie was. Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline sat down in Bonnie's room. "Ok Elena spill it. What is it that you want?" Bonnie asked.

"Okay well you guys are not going to like it but I have to ask you to do this. You are not allowed to tell anyone about what I'm asking you do. Most importantly, you are not allowed to tell Damon or Stefan anything" she said fiercely. The two girls looked at each other. They both looked scared. Bonnie then said "Tell us". Then Elena began to them about her plan to kill Klaus.

It was about eight o'clock when Elena arrived at the Salvatore house that night. Damon let Elena inside. "Stefan's not here" he said. "We were running low on blood again so he volunteered to go get some" Damon explained. Elena walked over and sat down on the couch. "I wanted to tell you guys that I have a plan to get Klaus to come out of wherever he is hiding" Elena explained. Damon looked amused.

"Oh and what plan is that?" he asked sarcastically.

"I surrender" Elena said simply. Damon let out a small laugh.

"Come on Elena that's stupid. You're going to get yourself killed" he said.

"It's the only way" Elena insisted. "You and Stefan can try and stake him after he captures me" she went on.

"You really think it's going to be that simple" Damon retorted. "You of all people, Elena must realize that this is going to be anything but easy" Damon said.

"Of course, I know that" she said. "I'm not going to let anyone else die because of me though" Elena said. Damon realized that this conversation was pointless. He decided upon a different tactic. "Well this is like déjà vu huh?" he said. It took Elena a moment for her to realize what he was talking about. "Yes, it is" she said, remembering, what had happened the last time that she was alone with Damon at the Salvatore house. "How is your wrist and ankle anyhow?" Damon asked suddenly. Elena was surprised by the abrupt turn in the conversation. "Oh they're both fine. They are both just about healed now" she responded. Suddenly Damon got up. "Just a second" he said. He was back quickly. Then Elena saw what it was that he had in his hand and laughed. "Really Damon, mistletoe?" "You couldn't be a little more original than that?" she asked.

"Oh come on Elena, you know that you want to kiss me" he said, slyly. "If I'm correct you seemed to enjoy it a lot last time" he said, tauntingly.

"Yes" Elena admitted. "It was nice. It's just that I feel guilty about Stefan is all" she said.

Damon sighed. "Yeah, my too, a little at least," he added quickly. Damon took his hand and gently stroked Elena's cheek. "But I know that it will be worth it" Damon said to her. Damon leaned in to kiss Elena. Then suddenly he stopped. "Stefan" he muttered. Within, the next few seconds the door flung open and Stefan walked in. "Oh hey Elena. What are you doing here?" he asked. Elena told him about her plan. Stefan took to it worse than Damon had. Soon afterward, Elena said that she was going home. There was a thought that was left lingering in Elena's mind. How long had Stefan been outside the door? Did he hear everything? Elena thought about this throughout the entire drive back to her house. She knew that Stefan would be come over later that night to keep watch on her house. Maybe she would be able to tell something then. As it turned out, everything seemed to be normal when Stefan arrived. This peaceful thought, allowed Elena to sleep better that night.

At the end of the week, something happened. The news came on with a report of another animal attack. Elena listened as the broadcast was made. _It has been months since there's been an animal attack. This one has been worse than the others. The victim had severe wounds all over his body. It is very strange. It is almost as though the animal was sending some sort of message._ Elena turned off the tv and dialed Stefan's number. "Did you see the report on the news?" she asked.

"Yes Elena I did. It looks as though Klaus has finally begun to show us his presence" Stefan said.

The next day, Damon walked down to the cellar. He lifted the top of the cooler filled with blood bags Immediately, Damon rushed upstairs. "Stefan I have to ask you something" he called out. Stefan appeared from upstairs.

"Yes" he answered.

"Stefan didn't you get us a fresh supply of blood bags just last week?" he asked.

"Um yeah I did" Stefan answered.

"How many?" Damon asked. "

Uh- let's see I think that I took about 25" Stefan answered.

"Well how come there's only one left then?" "I only drank maybe 8 at the most" Damon said.

"Perhaps it was less than 25 Damon. I don't really know. I didn't perform an exact count" Stefan said. Damon ran in vamp speed over to where Stefan was standing.

"You're lying again Stefan" Damon said accusingly. "I know that there were at least 6 left just last night". "Stefan what are you doing?" Damon asked. There was concern that emanated from his voice. " Don't worry about it Damon. I'm fine. This is always what you wanted anyhow right?" he said, snidely. Damon grabbed Stefan by the shoulders. "Don't you remember what happened last time?" Damon hissed.

"Let go of me Damon" Stefan ordered. Damon released his grasp. "Why don't you go tell your girlfriend Elena everything?" Stefan remarked, boldly. Then a realization dawned upon Damon. Stefan knew. He must have heard everything the night that Elena had come over. He had been afraid of this. "Stefan look, you don't really know what happened" Damon began.

"Save your explanation for somebody who cares" Stefan said sarcastically. Then, before Damon was able to get out another word, Stefan had slammed the door and left.

Damon ran out of the house to try and find Stefan. He looked around but Stefan was nowhere to be seen.

There was a loud knock on the door of the Gilbert house. Jeremy answered the door. "Damon what-" he began. Jeremy never got to finish. Damon rushed past Jeremy into the house. He went straight up to Elena's room. He quickly flung the door open. "Damon what's wrong?" Elena asked, concerned. Damon walked over to Elena. He looked at her, very seriously. "Elena, it's Stefan. He knows. He left. I don't know where he went" he said quietly. Elena looked confused at first. Then she understood what must have happened. "He was very upset. This morning I went downstairs and found that there was only one blood bag left in the cooler" Damon stated. Elena stared at Damon in disbelief. "Well how many were there last night?" she asked, hesitantly. Damon paused for a moment before answering. "There were six left. It might have even been seven" he said, concerned. Elena sat down on the bed. She felt sick. "So Stefan drank all 5 or 6 of those within the last twenty-four hours?" Elena asked.

"Yes" Damon answered. Elena stood up abruptly.

"We have to find him" she said, seriously. Elena began to cry.

"Hey Elena, it's ok. We will find him, I promise" Damon said. He kissed Elena on the forehead. "I won't let anything happen to him" he assured her.

"Ok" Elena said. "Thank you Damon". Then she reached out and hugged him.

It was around midnight. The leaves on the trees were rustling as he walked toward it. The grill had closed at eleven. There were only three employees who had worked there till closing. There was a girl named, Christina. Joe and Matt were the guys that there that night. Joe had already left for the night. Matt decided that he would walk Christina to her car to make sure she got there ok. Christina had been wearing heels all night. She didn't notice the step when she was walking out of the restaurant. Christina fell. "Are you alright Christina?" Matt asked. He hurried over to help her up. "

I'm fine" she said.

"Your hand is bleeding" Matt pointed out.

"Oh crap." I used it to break my fall and I guess I cut it. I'll fix it when I get home" she said.

"Well at least let me drive you home. You can come back for your car tomorrow" Matt insisted. She agreed. Then they began to walk to Matt's car.

The very smell of it was intoxicating to him. It was something that he craved more than anything else in the world at that moment. He saw two people standing in the parking lot at Mystic Grill. He could sense that the girl was bleeding. He rushed over to her and grabbed her. "Hey what do you think that you're doing?" Matt screamed. He ran over and threw Matt against the car. Matt slumped to the floor, unconscious. This was good. He didn't want to hurt Matt. The girl screamed and began to run. Quickly, he descended upon her. He couldn't help himself. No matter how hard he tried to fight it he couldn't. He grabbed the girl by the throat and began to drink. Oh how good it felt. The last time that he did this he had not had enough. That girl Amber, was lucky to be alive. This girl wouldn't have the same luxury. He drank until she passed out. Then without warning, he dropped the girl to the floor. He had been hit with vervain. There was a lot of it. He passed out from the pain. A figure emerged from the darkness. "I'm sorry Stefan but I had to do it" he said quietly. "Quickly Damon over here. You're going to have to give this girl some blood. She is almost dead" Alaric said, seriously. Damon emerged from within the shadows. He did as he was told. He gave the girl some blood. She would be waking up within the next few minutes. Damon took in the scene. There was a girl who was nearly dead in the parking lot. Matt was unconscious on the ground. Then there was his brother lying on floor. Damon looked down at Stefan. He knew that Stefan tried so hard to always to the right thing. He knew that Stefan would never have done something like this under normal circumstances. Stefan had been under the influence of the blood. Damon knew that he was also partially responsible for this. If he had never kissed Elena maybe this wouldn't have happened. He had to help Stefan get through this. Damon knew that Stefan would never forgive himself. Damon took one last look at his surroundings, then helped Alaric with everything that needed to be done. Damon realized that this was only the beginning of things to come. He shuddered at the thought. He looked down once again at Stefan. He said "Don't worry brother, I'll help you through this. We've been through worse" . With that, Damon picked Stefan up and placed him in the car.


	8. Chapter 8

TVD part 8

Stefan opens his eyes. He realizes that he is sleeping on the couch, in front of the fireplace. He hears someone walking around behind him. "Well good afternoon, sleepyhead" Damon said, mockingly.

"What time is it?" Stefan asked, groggily.

"It's already 12:30. You've been out for nearly twelve hours" Damon responded. Stefan took a deep breath, before asking the next question. "What exactly happened last night, Damon?" he asked. Stefan knew that he did not really want to know the answer to this question. "Seems like you're a little bit hung-over, there Stefan. Too much blood will do that to you too" Damon teased. Stefan was not pleased. He glared at Damon. "Ok I'll tell you" Damon said. "You drank a lot of blood within the last 36 hours or so. Yesterday, you got mad at me and decided to run off. We were looking for you all day. We finally found you at the grill around midnight. You tore up some waitress pretty good" Damon said. Stefan looked completely horrorstruck. Then Damon added "It's ok though. We got there in just enough time. She's alive. I gave her blood. Then Rick took her over to the hospital to get her neck fixed up. He told them some story that she must have been attacked by another animal. He said he had been hunting in the woods when he found her" Damon explained. A rush of memories from the night before, came flooding through Stefan's mind. He remembered being at the grill. He remembered the girl. He remembered drinking her blood. It had tasted so good. Stefan tried to banish that thought from his mind. Then he remembered seeing Matt lying unconscious by his car. "Matt" he said suddenly. Stefan looked up at Damon for an answer. "What happened to Matt?" Stefan asked, concerned.

"Matt is fine. He woke up this morning with a nasty headache. Alaric got Matt to let me in. Then I just compelled him to forget what had happened. I had to compel the girl too. Now they have matching stories. Matt hasn't been given any new vervain since Katherine took it away" Damon explained. Stefan looked down and placed his head in his hands. "I can't believe that I did that" Stefan said. "I could have killed them both." He looked back up at Damon. "Well you didn't though. We got there in time" Damon assured him again. Then Stefan had a sudden thought. "Wait a minute, you kissed Elena" he said, angrily.

"That is my cue to leave" Damon said. Then Damon walked out the door. Stefan didn't even bother going after him. He had other more important things to do.

Stefan arrived at Elena's house. Jenna opened the door. "Oh hello Stefan" she greeted him. "Hi Jenna" he said. "Is Elena here? I need to talk to her" he told Jenna.

"Actually Stefan, I think that she is over at Caroline's house right now" Jenna said.

"Thanks Jenna" Stefan said. He immediately went over to Caroline's house. He knocked on the door. To Stefan's surprise, Bonnie answered the door. She looked very surprised to see him too. "Yes Stefan. What do you need?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm here to see Elena. I really need to talk to her" he explained.

"I'll go get her" Bonnie said. Within a couple of minutes, Elena had come to the door. "What do you want to talk to me about?" Elena asked, curiously.

"Well first I wanted to apologize for running off yesterday" he said. "I also wanted to let you know that I'm never going to let the blood control like that again" he told her. Elena scoffed when she heard this. "Come on Stefan we both know what happens whenever, you get too much human blood in your system" she said, snidely.

"Can we talk about this inside?" Stefan asked her.

"No we can't Stefan. I'm really busy with Bonnie and Caroline. I have will to talk to you later" Elena said, fiercely.

"Elena" Stefan said, pleadingly. "Please, I need to talk to you. I have to know what happened with Damon" he said. Elena gave him a stern look.

"Stefan, I will talk to you about everything later. Right now, I just can't she said. Stefan walked away, as he heard the door close behind him.

Stefan entered the Salvatore house. He saw Damon. "Hey Stefan. What have you been up to?" Damon asked. Stefan did not respond, immediately. Then he said "I went to see Elena. I thought that maybe at least one of you would be honest with me" he explained. Damon waited for him to continue. Then he said, "And?"

"She was at Caroline's house. Bonnie was there too. Elena is up to something but I have no idea what it is" he admitted.

"We'll figure out what she is doing. Come on, how much harm could she possibly do Stefan?" Damon asked, jokingly. Damon did not realize that this simple question would have a very devastating answer. Stefan seemed to agree with what Damon had said. Stefan went down to the cellar. Within a few seconds, Stefan had come back upstairs. "Damon where is the blood that was in the trunk" he asked angrily.

"I hid it Damon said, tauntingly. He had a smirk on his face. Stefan raced up to the top of the stairs, where Damon was standing. "Did you really think that after the stunt you pulled last night that I'm going to allow you to have blood whenever you feel like it?" Damon demanded.

"Klaus is here. He is somewhere in Mystic Falls. I will die if I don't drink human blood" Stefan protested.

"Then you will drink it when I drink it" Damon said, forcefully. "Don't worry I will take out enough for both of us" Damon said.

Meanwhile, Elena was at Caroline's house and she was very frustrated. "It's not working" she said to Bonnie. "Look Elena I told you that this takes a lot of time. I have to do this correctly or it won't work. Caroline sat down on the couch. She turned on the tv. The tv screen flashed blue for a second. Then words came across the screen that said _We now interrupt this program to bring you a special report. _A female reporter was shown on the screen._ Two more bodies have been found. This appears to be the same characteristic work as the last attack. The wounds are consistent with the wounds that the victim had, who was killed just last week. The police are trying to figure out how to stop the killings._

_This relaxing Sunday afternoon has turned into another day of horror. The two bodies were found outside of the old church. One man and one woman were found. The names of the victims have not been released. The police now suspect that it may be the work of a serial killer. Citizens are being warned to try to keep themselves safe and out of any potentially dangerous situations. _The report ended and the regular programming resumed. "What are we going to do?" Elena cried out. "Klaus keeps killing more and more people. I have to do something" Elena said, hysterically.

"Elena calm down" Bonnie said. "We will be able to stop Klaus" she reassured her. Just then there was another knock on the door. Elena got up to answer it. Elena opened the door. A very tall girl was standing there. Elena looked at her quickly and ushered her in. "Come in" she said. "We've been expecting you" Elena said, politely. The girl walked into Caroline's house. "I'm here now. Tell me what you want me to do" she said, looking at Bonnie.

It was around 7:00 o'clock at the Mystic Falls grill. Damon sat down at the bar. He noticed that there was a very pretty blonde girl sitting in the seat next to him. He turned to her. "Hello, I'm Damon" he said, extending his hand to her.

"Hi I'm Jules" she responded.

"I don't think that I've seen you here before" Damon said, nonchalantly. "Are you new to town" he asked.

"I'm not going to be staying. I'm here visiting a few friends. I was here once, a couple of months ago. I was only here for a day or two" she told Damon.

"Oh that's nice. This is a small town, maybe I know your friends" he said. Jules looked embarrassed. "Sorry that was rude of me" Damon confessed. "It's just that I wouldn't want a pretty girl like yourself to get lost or anything" Damon said, with fake charm.

"No, it's fine" she said. "I'm actually here to see the Lockwoods. I'm sure that you know them" Jules said.

Damon was startled by this information. He realized that he was going to have to keep a close eye on this girl. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to go meet with Tyler and Mrs. Lockwood. "Have a good night" Damon called out as Jules left.

It was then that Elena, Caroline, Bonnie, Matt, and Jeremy walked into the restaurant. They took a seat at a booth. "It must be nice to be able to come here and not have to work

huh?" Jeremy asked Matt.

"Yeah, it is", Matt agreed. "I just can't believe that an animal jumped on me and knocked me out then attacked Christina" he said. Another news report, came on tv. _This just in. The names of the two victims have been released. The male victim's name is James Connors. He was a teacher at Mystic Falls High. _Everyone stared at each other in disbelief. "Mr. Connors?" Elena asked, disbelievingly. "He was my creative writing teacher. I just can't believe this". A small tear escaped from Elena's eye. The news report continued. _The name of the female victim is Veronica Smith. _Elena took a moment to think. At least, she did not know a Veronica Smith. Elena had to talk to everyone else. However, she was going to have to wait until Matt left before she could do so. No one seemed to notice, as a man who had been sitting in the back of the restaurant got up to leave.

A half hour later, Elena decided that she wanted to go home. She said goodbye to everyone. Jeremy said that he was going to make sure that Bonnie got home ok. Elena walked over to her car. She turned the key to open the door. At that moment, she felt a hand upon her shoulder. She jumped. "Calm down Elena, it's me" Damon said.

"Damon you scared me to death!" Elena yelled at him.

"Sorry it's just that I need to tell you something" he said. She motioned for Damon to get in the car. Elena began to drive. Damon told her about what happened with that girl, Jules. Elena did not seem to be nearly as suspicious as he was. "So what Damon? She's friends with the Lockwoods. What's the big deal?" she asked.

"Well I don't like her and I don't trust her" Damon responded. Elena was almost to her house when she saw it. There were flames and smoke everywhere. Elena stopped the car in the middle of the road and began to run. Damon ran after her. "Jenna! Jenna!" she screamed. "Damon please help. Jenna is in there" she sobbed. Damon stared at her for a second. "Stay here" he commanded. Damon ran into the Gilbert house. There was smoke everywhere. Damon was coughing. He ran up to Jenna's room. He saw her lying on the bed. She was already passed out. He grabbed Jenna and ran as quickly as he could out of the house. The flames continued to get higher and higher. "Elena- Damon coughed. "Is the fire department on the way?" he asked. Elena shook her head, yes. Damon placed Jenna gently on the grass. He made sure that she still had a pulse and was breathing. Luckily, she was. "Why?" Elena sobbed. She looked up at Damon. " I just don't understand why" she said, through her tears. Damon grabbed Elena and hugged her. He held her that way until they could hear the sirens come closer.

"I don't Elena. I don't know" Damon told her. "Klaus is a bad guy. He is not going to stop until he gets what he wants" he said. The firefighters and the rescue were there within a few minutes. The paramedics placed Jenna on the stretcher. Elena got into the ambulance with Jenna. "Damon, I'm going to the hospital with Jenna. Please tell Jeremy and Stefan what happened" she said to him.

"Of course, Elena" he said. The firefighters were able to put the fire out. There was not too much left of the Gilbert house. Damon stood there and looked on in utter shock. He wanted to help but he didn't how. All he knew was that he would not let Klaus hurt Elena anymore. He couldn't.

Katherine heard the tomb door slide open. "Stefan?" Damon?" she called out. There was no reply. She walked closer towards the entrance. "Tyler I didn't expect to see you here" she said. "How come you don't look surprised to see me?" she asked Tyler.

"Elijah filled me in on everything" he said, quietly. Then another figure rounded the corner. "Hello Katherine. How long has it been? I think it was a little over a year ago that I saw you in Florida" Jules said to her.

"Jules" Katherine said. "I always knew that Mason could do better. Oh yes, as a matter of fact he did" Katherine said, snidely. "He decided to go for me, instead" Katherine said to her. "So Jules what is it that you want?" Katherine asked.

"I'm going to get you out of here. I don't want to, but I don't have a choice" she replied.

"Well then, get to it. I'm tired of being in here" Katherine commanded.

"I will soon enough Katherine. You will just have to be more patient" Jules said. Tyler and Jules began to close the tomb door. "Oh right I almost forgot" Jules said. She threw Katherine one blood bag and then they closed the door.


	9. Chapter 9

"Elena?", Jenna asked, confused. Jenna looked around the room that she was in. A small, warm hand, touched her own. "I'm here, Jenna" Elena assured her. "You're going to be okay" Elena said.

"I'm in the hospital" Jenna said. It was more of a statement than a question. "What happened?" Jenna asked.

Elena sighed and took a deep breath. "You don't remember what happened?" Elena asked. Jenna thought about this for a minute.

"I remember being at home. I was making something to eat for dinner. After I ate, I remember going to my room to take a nap. Then I woke up and I'm here", she finished. "How's Jeremy? Is he here?" Jenna asked Elena. "No Jenna. He was here earlier. You were still unconscious then" Elena explained. "The doctor said that you weren't burned very much, thank God" Elena said. "You're going to be here for a few days though" Elena added. Elena began to explain about what happened with the fire. "So you got home and you saved me?" Jenna asked. "But how?" she said. Before Elena got a chance to answer, there was a knock on the door. "Come in" Elena said. Damon walked in, carrying some food. It had been a long time since Elena had eaten anything.

"Hey Elena, I got you a cheeseburger and fries. Good luck trying to eat hospital cafeteria food though" he teased. Then he noticed that Jenna was awake. " Hey she's awake" Damon said. "How are you feeling?" he asked Jenna. Before Jenna could respond, however, Elena began to speak. "Damon is the one who saved you, Jenna" Elena explained. "Thank you so much. I don't know how to ever repay you" Jenna said.

"Don't worry about it. It was nothing. Rick is outside waiting to come in here. I better go, before I end up in the bed next you Jenna" Damon said.

"Wait Damon, what about you? Are you okay?" Jenna asked.

"Yeah, the paramedics already made sure of that. They said that I'm fine" Damon lied quickly.

Damon looked over at Elena. She seemed to understand what it was that Damon was saying. She waited a moment after he left, and then made up an excuse to leave the room. Elena found Damon waiting for her, standing in the hallway. He motioned for her to come over there. Damon and Elena saw Alaric. He nodded in acknowledgement. Alaric entered Jenna's room. Now I want you to listen to me Elena. We are going to fix this. _I _am going to fix this" he said. Elena looked scared and confused.

"Damon what are you going to do?" she asked, desperately.

"I'm gonna find Klaus and Elijah and I'm going to kill them" he said forcefully. Elena couldn't help it, she let out a little laugh. "Don't do anything stupid" Elena warned.

"You'll see, Elena. I'm not going to let anything else happen to you" he said. "You've better get back with Jenna., he added. She's going to be wondering where you went" Damon said. He walked back to the Jenna's room with Elena. Before leaving, Damon gave Elena one last longing look. Then he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. Damon had gone, before Elena had been able to blink.

The next day at school, it became apparent that the fire at the Gilbert house was the main source of conversation. "How is Jenna?" Caroline asked Bonnie.

"I think that she's doing ok. Elena said that she is going to be fine" Bonnie responded.

Caroline's phone made a ringing sound. "I got a text" she informed Bonnie. "It's Elena. She says that she's skipping school today to stay with Jenna" Caroline said. A minute later Caroline's phone went off again. "It's Elena again. She wants to know if you were able to finish it yet?" Caroline asked.

"Tell Elena that we finished it this morning. I will drop it off with her this afternoon" Bonnie explained. Caroline wrote Elena back. "Ok well I guess I'll see you after school then" Caroline said to Bonnie.

"Yeah" Bonnie agreed.

Stefan and Damon were arguing over at the Salvatore house. "For the last time Stefan, I'm not going to tell you where I put the blood bags!" he yelled.

"You have to Damon. You don't need blood as frequently as I do. Sometimes you forget. You forgot yesterday and I had steal some from the hospital!" Stefan yelled back.

"So what?" Damon asked. "They have plenty of blood over there Stefan" Damon insisted.

"We have to be able to defeat Klaus. We won't be able to do that if you are trying to drain Jeremy" Damon said. Stefan gave Damon a glaring look. "Ok, bad example" Damon confessed. "Still we both need you to be calm, cool, and collected Stefan". "We don't need you to be crazy on human blood Stefan" Damon told him. Stefan seemed to agree with this. "I need to be alive Stefan, though and you are preventing me from being that" Stefan said.

"Ok Stefan, I'll make you a deal. You just tell me if I forget. There are you happy yet?" "Well maybe not happy but as much as you seem to get" Damon added, tauntingly. Stefan ignored him. "While we are having this conversation, we need to talk about Elena" Stefan said. " I know that you will be totally opposed to this but I think that Elena should stay with us while they are rebuilding her house" Stefan said, sarcastically. Damon smirked at him in response. "That means that Jeremy and Jenna should stay here too" he added. "We have to keep them all safe" Stefan said. Damon, of course, agreed

"Did you do it?" Elijah asked.

"Yes we went to have a little chat with Katherine" Jules said.

"Good" Elijah said. "Klaus is very excited to be able to see Katherine again" Elijah told her. "Klaus will love to have a little chat with Katerina after all these years. She won't be crafty enough to get away this time" he said.

"What about me?" What do you want with me? Jules asked, the fear in her voice, echoing throughout, the large house. Elijah stepped closer to her.

"Well Jules I'm going to need to you to do one more thing for me" Elijah said.

"Why should I do anything else for you?" Jules asked

"Well for the same reason that you did before" Elijah said simply. "You value that worthless life of yours. Plus I know what you are. The Salvatore brothers are currently unaware of that. Do I have to remind you again about the information that I got out of that sniveling blond Caroline? Do I need to tell you again about what a horrific death Mason suffered? I will gladly hand you over for the same fate. I still have Tyler, who can be used for the curse" Elijah said coldly. "I told you what you have to do if you want to live. Now you have to follow through with the plan" Elijah explained. Then Elijah picked her up by the neck and threw her across the room. She fell to the floor with a loud thud. "Now go, do as you're told" he commanded. Elijah left the house. Jules was slightly injured. Even in her human form, she was much stronger than a normal person. The next full moon was only a few days away. Jules just had to manage to stay alive a little bit longer. Jules planned to try and kill Elijah in a few days, when the moon had fully risen in the sky.

Bonnie went to the hospital after school. She entered the room that Jenna was in. "Hey Jenna how are you feeling?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm actually feeling pretty good" Jenna responded.

"That's great Jenna. I hope that you get better soon" Bonnie said. "Can I talk to you for a minute Elena? Bonnie asked.

"Yeah sure Bonnie" Elena said. Elena and Bonnie went outside of the room. "Here it is" Bonnie said. Bonnie handed Elena something.

"Thank you so much for helping me Bonnie. This is great. I really appreciate it. Will you please tell Lucy that I said thank you too?" she asked.

"Yeah, of course I will" Bonnie replied. Elena gave Bonnie a hug.

"Thanks again" Elena said. Bonnie assured her that it was not a problem. Bonnie began to leave. Then she turned around. "Elena please promise me that you're going to be careful. Please don't do anything irrational, anything Damon-like" she added. Elena laughed.

"You don't have to worry Bonnie. I will be fine" she said.

Two more days passed. Damon insisted on helping Elena bring Jenna to the Salvatore house. Jenna had suggested that they all stay with Alaric for a few weeks. Elena had told her that Alaric's apartment was not large enough for all of them to fit. Eventually, Jenna had given in. "Elena I know that Stefan is your ex, at the moment, but please don't do anything that you're going to regret" Jenna had said to her. Elena had promised that she would not do anything stupid. Stefan was at the house with Jeremy, waiting for them to get back. Stefan made sure that everything had been set up in place for the arrival of Elena, Jeremy, and Jenna. There were plenty of extra rooms in the house. "Here is where you will be staying" Stefan said to Jenna. He pointed to a large room located upstairs. Stefan showed Jeremy and Elena where their rooms would be at. "What's this room in here?" Jeremy asked. Stefan walked over to where Jeremy was standing. "This is Damon's room" Stefan explained.

"That's great", Jeremy said, sarcastically. "I'm right next to Damon. This is going to be fun" he said. Stefan laughed at Jeremy's remark.

"It's okay, Jeremy. I'll be here to make sure that Damon doesn't do anything to you" Stefan assured him. Damon walked upstairs. He was trying to get used to not using his vamp powers when Jenna was around. "I heard that" he whispered to Stefan.

The next few days were a big adjustment for everyone. Stefan and Damon had to be very cautious to never let Jenna see them doing anything that would be out of the ordinary. Damon took Elena aside. "Elena, I need you to come with me" Damon said to her. Elena said that she would. She told Jenna that she was going to be with Damon for a little while.

Damon and Elena got into his car. "Where are you taking me?" she asked him.

"You'll see soon enough" he responded. It didn't take Elena long to realize where they were headed. "Why would you bring me here?" she asked. A few small tears fell from her eyes. Damon parked the car in front of the remainder of Elena's house. "Well Elena, it is your house. The kitchen and downstairs got the most destruction. I just thought that there might be something here that you still need" Damon said.

"No there isn't Damon. Take me back to the house right now" she demanded.

"Just wait here for a minute" he said. Then Damon walked over to the house and sneaked around the _DO NOT ENTER _tape. Within a few minutes, he had returned. He was carrying something small in his hand. He took Elena's hands and placed the object in it. "I've seen this in your room before" he said simply. Elena stared down at the object in her hands. She was looking at a picture of her with her parents and Jeremy. It had been taken about two years ago at the Grand Canyon. The frame was somewhat charred from the ashes of the fire. The picture itself, was still intact. Elena looked up at Damon. Her eyes were flooded with tears. "Thank you" she said softly. "I- I thought that I would never see this again. This is the only picture of them that I have left" she said, through her tears.

"This was the only one that I could find. The rest have too much damage to them" Damon told her. Damon hugged Elena. He held her there, tightly in his arms for several minutes. Elena sobbed into his chest. He took his hand and stroked her hair. "Elena look at me" he said. Elena looked into his electric blue eyes. "I promise that I'm going to make this better. I will not let Klaus hurt you no matter what" he said. Elena knew that he was serious. She knew that Damon would die before letting Klaus kill her. She also knew that she couldn't let that happen. She was going to give up. She would let Klaus win. She did not want anyone else to have to die. Elena knew what she was going to have to do.

Later that night Jeremy was at the grill. He was playing pool with Matt. He had been

there since about 9:30. It was now almost eleven. "Oh man it's almost closing time" Jeremy said.

"Yeah" Matt agreed. "It sucks. I wish that we had more time" Matt said. Matt and Jeremy left the grill. Jeremy got into his car. He began to drive back to the Salvatore house. He was halfway there when the car began to make a noise. "Oh that's great. This is just my luck" he said, aloud. The car sputtered and the engine died. Jeremy got out of the car. He had to push it to the side of the road. Luckily there was almost no traffic at this time, in Mystic Falls. He took out his cell phone and dialed Elena's number. It began to ring. Suddenly someone grabbed Jeremy from behind. He was hit over the head with a large object. The cell phone fell to the ground . Jeremy's body slumped over. It was difficult, but Jules managed to drag Jeremy into her car.

About two hours later, Jeremy woke up. He was sitting in a very large dark room. He looked down and saw that his hands and feet were tied up. Jeremy's head was throbbing from where he had been hit. A man entered the room. He was very tall, muscular and he had blond hair. "Hello Jeremy" he said.

"Who are you?" Jeremy shouted. "What do you want we with me?" he asked.

The man gave Jeremy an evil smirk. He let out a small laugh. "Well you are quite feisty now aren't you?" he asked. Jeremy did not respond to this remark. "It won't be too much longer before your sister arrives" he announced.

"What do you want with Elena?" Jeremy demanded.

"I need her to break the curse. She is the doppelganger" he explained. "I'm Klaus" he announced. Jeremy's face went cold. He stared up at the vampire who was over two thousand years old. Klaus paced back and forth in front of Jeremy. "It's only a matter of time now" he said, more to himself than to Jeremy. "Soon I will have exactly what I need".


	10. Chapter 10

**TVD part 10**

**Elena had just gotten out of the shower. She put her pajamas on, and was getting ready for bed. It was around looked on the desk and saw that she had left her phone there. She was still getting used to being in this new room. She wasn't sure where everything was. Elena walked over, picked up her cell phone and saw that she had one missed call. It said **_**Jeremy **_**on the screen. Immediately, Elena was concerned. Jeremy almost never called her. She dialed Jeremy's number. It rang a few times, and then went to voicemail. Elena decided that she would not panic just yet. She called Jeremy four more times. There was still no answer. Elena raced out of her bedroom. Thankfully, Aunt Jenna had already gone to sleep. Elena was not paying attention, and she ran into something solid. **

"**Whoa, Elena why are you running down the hallway?" Damon asked. Elena was visibly shaken. "Oh Damon I was looking for you and Stefan" she said, breathlessly. **

"**Well you found me" Damon said. "Stefan is downstairs. What's wrong?" he asked.**

"**It's Jeremy" Elena answered. "He must have called me while I was in the shower. I've called his number a few times and he isn't answering" she explained. **

"**Well calm down, I'm sure that he is fine" Damon said. **

"**No, Damon I think that something is wrong. What if Elijah or Klaus got to him" she said. Elena was beginning to get hysterical now. "Alright Elena if it makes you feel better I will go look for him. Do you know where he went?" Damon asked her.**

**Elena thought about this for a moment. "I think that he said he was going to the grill" she answered.**

"**Ok you stay here with Stefan and I'll go look for him" Damon said.**

**It was very cold outside. The streets were already covered in snow. As he drove along, he noticed a car parked over on the side of the road. The car looked very familiar. Damon pulled over. He saw that there was no one in the car. "Jeremy what happened?" Damon asked himself aloud. He walked around to the other side of the car. Damon saw Jeremy's cell phone that had fallen to the ground. He picked it up and placed it in his jacket pocket. Then Damon noticed that there were footprints in the snow. They were not far away from where Jeremy's car was at. There had definitely been someone else here. There were still faint outlines of tire tracks. "Elena is not going to be happy about this" he murmured. Damon got back into his car. He dialed Stefan's number. The phone rang three times before Stefan answered it. "Hey Stefan we have a serious problem. I found Jeremy's car and his cell phone on the ground. There were footprints and tire tracks in the snow. It appears as though Jeremy has been kidnapped" Damon said. On the other end of the phone, Stefan took a deep breath. He said "Well we are going to have to get him back quickly. We are going to have to be smart about it too. I think you should call Alaric" he suggested.**

"**You should call that semi-competent witch" Damon said. Then Damon hung up the phone and drove back to the Salvatore house at top speed.**

**Elena was completely hysterical by the time that Damon got back. "What is wrong with you guys?" she screamed at Stefan and Damon. "You should have been watching him" Elena cried. "Elena we are going to get Jeremy back, don't worry" Damon said. Damon looked at her and gave her a light squeeze on the hand. Within a half hour there was a knock on the door. Alaric was standing there. "You guys know that regular humans sleep right?" he asked, sarcastically. He entered the Salvatore house. Another five minutes passed and Bonnie arrived. "Thank you so much for coming, both of you guys" Elena said, sincerely. **

"**Ok what do you guys need me to do?" Bonnie asked. **

"**We're going to have to have you perform another locator spell" Stefan said. Damon brought out the map. Elena placed her hand in front of Bonnie. Bonnie took a knife and made a small cut in Elena's hand. Elena winced slightly but did not say anything. They placed Elena's blood on the map. The blood that they had placed on the map began to move. It stopped on a rural area just outside of Richmond. It was maybe one hundred miles further from Mystic Falls than the place that Elena had been taken to. "Ok everybody in the car" Damon ordered. Alaric and Bonnie exchanged worried glances. "Come on, you guys can sleep in the car" Damon assured them.**

"**I think that we're forgetting something. What about ash stakes?" Stefan asked.**

"**I thought that we might need some more, since Klaus came to Mystic Falls. So I was prepared and found us some more stakes" Alaric explained. "I have everything that we are going to need in the car" Alaric said. "I'll go get it and put it into Damon's car" Alaric told them.**

**Damon drove very fast on the highway. Elena had left Jenna a note saying that she and Jeremy had left early for school. There was not much of any conversation on the way up there. "Ok Stefan what does that map tell us?" Damon asked. **

"**Well we should probably be getting in a few minutes. We are in the general area of where Bonnie showed us Jeremy is. It must be that house, way back in the clearing" he said, pointing to the right side of the road. Damon took the nearest exit, and drove straight over to the wooded area. There was only one house there in the middle of the woods. Damon parked the car near the edge of the woods. "What is it with vampires and houses in the middle of nowhere anyhow?" Damon asked no one in particular. He saw Elena give him a small smile. There was still some snow on the ground. It was not enough, however, to be too distracting. They all got out of the car. They got the weapons out of the trunk. The stakes and vervain were not too hard to hide, underneath their jackets. They started walking towards the house that was hidden in the back of the woods. Stefan and Damon walked in front of everyone else, with Alaric at the rear. Elena and Bonnie were instructed to stay in the middle of the group. It was nearly five o'clock in the morning by now. It was still very dark outside. Elena looked at Bonnie. There were a few unspoken words between them. Bonnie understood. She knew that the time was almost here. Bonnie nodded her head in agreement with Elena.**

**Damon and Stefan neared the entrance of the house. They opened the front door. Cautiously, they proceeded to go inside. The house was very large. The living room looked as though it had not been used in years. Damon looked to his left. In the corner of the room was a chair. Jeremy was sitting in the chair with his hands and feet tied. Jeremy saw them at the same time Damon saw him. It took Elena less than five seconds to realize that Jeremy was there. "Jeremy!" Elena screamed. Elena began to run toward him. She was abruptly pulled back by Damon's strong hands. "Don't" Damon hissed at her. **

"**Get out you guys, it's a trap!" Jeremy screamed. "Klaus is here!" he yelled. At that precise moment, they heard the clicking sounds from the doors. All of the doors had just been locked. Stefan ran toward the windows. No matter how hard he tried he could not get them to move. A figure emerged from the next room. "I see that you enjoyed my little trick" Jonas Martin said. "Oh good you brought your witch. This will be extremely interesting" he said, tauntingly. Elena was not even paying attention. She was looking around the room. There was something that was very familiar to her. She was not sure why but she felt as though she had been here before. Then as if on cue, Elijah walked out. "I believe that I have seen this somewhere before" he said. "Oh yes, I believe that it was at our last meeting" he taunted. Then he called out "Tyler, Caroline, Jules come here" he ordered. Tyler and Caroline came out of a nearby room. "I'm so sorry Elena" Caroline said. Tears were streaming down her face. "He used compulsion on me" Caroline said. **

"**It's okay Caroline" Elena said. "It's not your fault" Elena assured her. Damon was surprised to see Jules there. "What is she doing here?" he asked, pointing to Jules. **

"**Oh she's not important, just another werewolf" Elijah said, curtly. "You know that by midnight tonight, there will be another full moon. The curse must be broken the same day that there is a full moon or else it will not work. It has to be before the wolves transform, however. Otherwise, it would not be possible for the curse to be broken. Elijah explained. He walked over to Jules. "Now what do you think I should do with you?" he asked her. Jules was visibly shaking. "I want you to let me go" she pleaded. Elijah took another step closer. **

"**Why should I?" he asked her.**

"**I did everything that you asked me to" Jules said.**

"**Yes, that's right, you did bring the boy here" he said. "On the other hand, I don't need you anymore" he said to her. Without, any hesitation he reached into her chest and pulled out Jules' heart. Jules' limp body fell to the floor. There was a stunned look on everyone's faces. **

**It was then that another figure emerged from the darkness. He was a very tall, strong vampire. He had the look of a gentleman from the renaissance times. Of course, he was much older than that. This vampire had been around almost since the pyramids had been built. He had blonde hair, that was nearly white. It seemed as though everyone in the room was holding their breath. **

**Klaus walked over to the group standing in the living room. He walked close to Elena. Immediately, Damon stepped in front of him. Klaus began to laugh, manically. "What do you think that you are going to?" Klaus asked Damon. **

"**Don't touch her" Damon said, through gritted teeth. Stefan stepped closer to Damon. **

"**We're not going to let you hurt Elena" Stefan said. Klaus merely began to laugh again. "Elijah tie up this one" he said, pointing to Stefan. Klaus walked over to Tyler and told him to tie up the other one, gesturing toward Damon. "What about the witch and the other human?" Elijah asked**

"**Oh don't worry about that. Jonas will take care of them. This girl is no match for his powers" Klaus said, nonchalantly. **

**Bonnie and Alaric both began to feel faint. Jonas had placed a spell on them that would knock them out. Elijah approached Stefan with rope in his hand. Stefan shot vervain at Elijah. Elijah stumbled for a moment. Damon then shot a stake at Elijah. It hit him in the side. Elijah was angry. He was slightly injured. Then in one swift move Klaus had hit Damon. He went flying across the room. Damon lay on the floor, unconscious. Elena screamed "No stop it! I'll go with you. You can take me. You can kill me" she said, pleadingly. Stefan stared across the room at where Damon was lying. Elijah approached Stefan. Stefan struggled against Elijah. However, it was no use. Stefan noticed that Elijah put on gloves before touching the ropes. Then he realized what must be coming.**

**Klaus instructed Tyler to tie up Damon. He took the ropes and put them around **

**Damon's hands and feet. Damon was on the ground. He looked so helpless. Stefan fell to the ground with pain from the vervain ropes. Elena let out a terrified scream. Suddenly, she realized why this place had seemed so familiar to her before. A flood of memories came back to Elena. This was the house from her nightmare. "You did this. This is what happened in my nightmare" Elena said, slowly. "It was this place. Stefan and Damon were tied up with vervain rope. The only difference is that you weren't here" she said to Klaus. "It was only Elijah" she said. **

"**Very good Elena" Klaus said. "You are smarter than I realized" he teased. "You are smarter than the girl whom you are the doppelganger of anyhow" Klaus told her. Elena looked confused at first. Then she saw Katherine being led out from a back door.**

**She wasn't the Katherine that Elena had known, however. She had a look on her face that Elena did not recognize. It was a look of defeat. "You see poor Katherine was actually outwitted by these two idiots here" Klaus said, as he pointed to Damon and Stefan. "They locked her up in a tomb. It's too bad that Katherine is not really a threat" he said. Katherine was also bound with vervain rope. Klaus pushed Katherine to the floor. Then Klaus walked over to Damon. He quickly found what he was looking for. He took two small stakes from where Damon had hidden them. He plunged them both into Katherine's legs. She cried out in pain. "That is to make sure that you don't go anywhere" Klaus said to Katherine. Elena looked over at Katherine. She actually for sorry for her. Elena didn't understand how someone could be so callous and cruel. "Look I told you that you can have me. Stop hurting them please" Elena shouted at Klaus. Klaus walked closer to Elena. "You are either very brave or very stupid" he said to her. Elena was scared. She was shaking. "Do you want to see something else familiar?" Klaus asked Elena. With that, he walked over took two stakes from Alaric. "NO!" Elena shouted. She knew what he was going to try to do. She looked desperately at Caroline for help. "I'm sorry I can't" she cried. Klaus walked over to Stefan. He took the stake and plunged it into Stefan's chest. Elena fell to her knees. She was screaming and sobbing hysterically. Klaus had missed Stefan's heart by mere inches. Elena made her way over to Stefan and pulled out the stake. Then he went over and proceeded to do the same thing to Damon. Elena let out a piercing scream. It was as though Klaus had pressed the stake into Elena's chest, instead. Again, the stake stuck out of Damon's chest, just a couple of inches away from his heart. Both brothers were in agonizing pain. Elena was very scared because Damon hadn't yet awoken from being knocked unconscious. Elena raced over to Damon. She pulled the stake out of his chest. She saw his eyelids flutter slightly. She knew that he would be waking up within the hour. Elena looked up at Klaus with tears streaming down her face. "How could you?" she asked. Klaus laughed at Elena's comment. "You're lucky that I spared them at all" he whispered to her. Elena noticed that Damon was beginning to move around a little.**

**Klaus instructed Jonas to begin the ritual. Jonas placed the moonstone in the middle of the circle that they had formed. He began to chant in Latin. Klaus and Elijah were watching with bated breath. He had a large basin there, in order to catch the blood. Caroline was terrified. Elena was scared but she tried hard not to show it. Tyler looked almost serene. After experiencing his first transformation, this would not compare at all. Jeremy was still over in the corner. Elijah had determined a while ago, that it was best if he gagged Jeremy. Jeremy could do nothing now, except sit and watch.. Jonas grabbed the knife and cut Caroline. He collected some of her blood and placed it in the basin. Then he proceeded to cut Tyler as well. Then he cut Elena. He took a fairly large amount of blood from them all. Elena began to feel slightly dizzy from the blood loss. Jonas mixed all of the blood together in the basin. Then Jonas picked up the moonstone and began to say some kind of incantation over it. He then turned toward Klaus. Klaus walked over to the where the ritual was taking place. He took the knife, cut his own arm and Jonas placed his blood in it. Jonas then grabbed the moonstone and placed it in the center of the basin filled with blood. Soon the moonstone was completely immersed in the blood. Then Jonas continued to chant. After a few more minutes, something began to happen. Suddenly, the basin was completely dry and the moonstone was gone. It was as though it had totally disintegrated into thin air. Bonnie and Alaric began to wake up. They were dazed at first. Then they sat up and saw everything that happening. Alaric reached for his stakes and vervain. As he had suspected, they were not there. **

**Damon too, had woken up enough to have seen what happened. He was furious but he knew that couldn't do anything for Elena at this point. He could barely move enough to sit up, let alone try to kill a two thousand year old vampire. **

"**That's it?" Elena asked. "That was too easy" she said, aloud. "And you didn't kill me. Why?" she asked Klaus. Everyone was watching as Klaus walked towards Elena. "The curse only required that I take some of your blood" Klaus explained. Everyone that had been in the circle had now stood up and left. This left Elena, standing in the middle of the room with Klaus a mere six inches from her face. "Why do you even want to break it?" she asked. "I'm sure that since you're the most powerful vampire in the world, then surely you can walk in the day" Elena said to Klaus, bravely. Klaus smiled at her. "Well of course" he said. "I can do whatever I want. Well I will be able to just as long as Jonas did his job correctly" Klaus said. " What do you mean by that?" Elena asked, softly. Klaus paused for a few moments before answering her. "My dear Elena," he said. I have unlimited power. It is the kind of power that vampires can only dream of. I can control the wolves as well" Klaus said. "In other words I have no longer have restrictions of any kind." he said. "Now just for good measure, I need to make sure that this has worked" he said. With that, he grabbed Elena by her neck. There was a sickening twist and snap. Everyone watched in horror, as Elena's lifeless body fell to the floor.**


	11. Chapter 11

TVD part 11

Everything was happening at once. Bonnie had been trying to do a spell that loosened the ropes on Damon's and Stefan's hands and feet since she had woken up moments ago. Bonnie watched as the ropes that were binding Stefan and Damon fell to the floor. Damon and Stefan were beside Elena in an instant. Damon kneeled down next to Elena. He gently stroked her cheek. He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead. When he brought his head back up, Bonnie noticed that he was crying. He wasn't just crying though. Damon was entirely drained. He was looked absolutely hopeless, as though life was no longer worth living. Stefan was beside Elena too. He was holding onto her hand as if he would never let go. He could barely bring himself to look at her. He looked down at the ground and began to sob. Stefan was shaking uncontrollably. Alaric had untied Jeremy and taken away the gag. Jeremy was sitting next to where Elena's body was at on the floor. He gave Elena's other hand a tight squeeze. Tears were streaming down Jeremy's face. "No" he cried. "Elena. No, not my sister too. Now I don't have anyone" he sobbed. Bonnie and Caroline were crying too. Tyler stood back, in the far corner of the room. He was stunned. Tyler could not even move from the spot that he was in. Nobody noticed that Klaus was still in the room. Suddenly, Damon seemed to become aware of his surroundings. Klaus was standing in the living room laughing. He seemed to find something amusing about this situation. Damon quickly got up from where he had been kneeling beside Elena. He ran towards Klaus, grabbing a bloody stake from the ground. Klaus merely dodged his attack. Then before he could do anything else, Klaus had left.

Damon looked around. Elijah and Jonas were nowhere to be found as well. It had been about five minutes since Elena had been killed by Klaus. Suddenly, Elena's eyes began to flutter a little. Then Elena took a deep breath , gasping for air. Everyone was in shock. In an instant, Damon and Stefan were at her side, helping her to breathe. "Elena you're alive!" Stefan exclaimed.

"Elena are you okay?" Damon asked. The people surrounding her, all had the same question. How?

"It worked, it worked! Caroline yelled ecstatically.

Bonnie gave Caroline a scolding look. Immediately, Caroline regretted saying what she had. Damon rushed over to Caroline. He pinned her against the wall. "Ok start talking now!" What did you guys do?" he demanded. It was hard for Caroline to breathe. "Damon let go of her!" Stefan yelled. Damon released his grip on Caroline. It took Caroline a few moments to catch her breath. Bonnie raced over to help her. Bonnie answered Damon instead. "I made Elena a ring. Well I had help from Lucy but we made her a ring like Jeremy and Alaric have" Bonnie explained. Everyone was listening intently now. Stefan looked at Elena, as if for confirmation. Elena said "Yes, it's true" very softly. This was the first thing that she had said since she had woken up. Elena was rubbing her neck. She had a feeling that it was going to be sore for a while.

"Did you guys ever think that letting the rest of us in on your little secret might be beneficial? Damon asked accusingly. This time it was Caroline who responded.

"Elena knew that she was in danger. She realized that Klaus wanted to kill her. She wanted to be prepared just in case he did" Caroline explained. It was as though she were explaining a complicated movie to children. "Ok there is just one problem with that. I don't see a ring on Elena" Damon pointed out. Stefan looked surprised. He hadn't noticed one either. Slowly, Elena took out a chain that she had been hiding underneath her shirt. "I didn't want Klaus to see it" she explained. Damon was furious. He wanted to kill Bonnie and Caroline for letting Elena do something this stupid. Stefan must have sensed that Damon was about to do something insane, because suddenly, he said "Come on we have to get Elena home. She needs to rest" Stefan said. Then they heard a noise coming from behind them.

Um- hello. She's alive. Yay! Let me jump for joy! Oh wait I still have stakes stuck

in my legs and vervain ropes on my hands and feet" Katherine said sarcastically. Stefan got up and walked over to Katherine. He pulled the stakes out her legs. He noticed the gloves that Elijah had left lying on the floor. He picked them up, and put them on. Then he proceeded to take the vervain ropes off of Katherine's hands and feet. Katherine stood up. "Thank you" she said to Stefan. Then she walked over to Bonnie. "You had better be grateful, you little witch, that I am not going to hurt you for forgetting to do your hocus pocus with my ropes and the stakes" Katherine said, threateningly to Bonnie. Then Katherine walked over to Elena. "Well that was a clever little stunt that you pulled" she said. She actually sounded semi impressed. Elena looked up at Katherine. "Um- thanks" she said, nervously. "I told you that you are more like me than you thought" Katherine said to Elena. "So are you going to help us now?" Stefan asked her. Katherine smiled deviously at Stefan. "Oh Stefan, you're so naïve" she said, smugly. "You should know by now that I only look out for me" Katherine said. Katherine proceeded to get closer to Stefan. She leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then she whispered in his ear "I know that you still love me Stefan, I will be seeing you again sometime." Then she turned to Damon. "Goodbye Damon" she said, using her sweet seductive voice. She walked closer to him and stoked his cheek with her hand. He stared at her, wondering what her angle was. Instead of playing along, he simply said "Goodbye Katherine". Katherine walked toward Elena. "I know that in the end you will make the right choice Elena. You are after all, my doppelganger" she said, slyly. Katherine took one last look around the house at everyone who was there. Then she ran out the front door. Stefan and Damon stared out the door for a few more fleeting moments.

Damon was still very angry at Bonnie and Caroline for allowing Elena to do this. He tried to calm himself down. He needed a distraction desperately. That was not however, what he received. Stefan picked Elena up and placed her in his arms. Then he carried her outside and gently put her in the car. Damon walked out of the house without saying another word to anymore.

"I don't think that Tyler, Jeremy and I are going to fit in this car" Caroline commented. It was true. There was really only room for five people in Damon's car. This posed a slight problem for them. "It's ok" Jeremy said. "Jules left her car here" he told everyone.

"Well she's not going to be needing it anymore" Damon said, snidely. Everyone just stared at him in disbelief. "What? She's isn't going to be using it" Damon said, calmly. The drive back to Mystic Falls was a long one. No one really said anything. It was already afternoon two o'clock in the afternoon when they arrived back. Everyone was completely exhausted. Stefan and Damon dropped Bonnie and Alaric off at their respective houses. Then they took Elena back to the Salvatore house. Jeremy arrive a few minutes after they did.

Elena sat down on the couch in the living room. Damon was pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. Stefan sat down on the couch next Elena. He turned to her and "Elena, what you did was crazy" he said, calmly. You could have been killed. You could have actually died and not come back" Stefan told her.

"I know Stefan. Please save me the lecture. This is why I didn't want anyone else to know. I knew that you guys wouldn't let me do it. I guess that it turns out that I was right, Stefan" Elena said, forcefully. Damon was waiting for an opportune time to tell Elena exactly what he thought about what she had done. He was still seething. Damon left for a few minutes. When he came back he had two blood bags in his hands. He offered one to Stefan. "Oh no thanks, maybe later" he told Damon.

"Stefan are you insane?" Do you not remember being staked in the chest earlier today? Does that not ring a bell for you?" Damon asked, angrily. Before Stefan could reply, there was a knock on the door. "Hey guys, it's Jenna. Can you please let me in? It's freezing out here" she said. Damon sped out of the room, so Aunt Jenna wouldn't see the blood bags in his hands. Elena answered the door. "Hey Aunt Jenna. How was work?" she asked.

"Oh it was fine Elena. I'm just glad to be back inside of someplace warm" she said. Aunt Jenna said hello to Stefan. "Where is Jeremy at? I haven't seen him since before he went to the grill last night" Jenna said.

"He's upstairs, in his room" Elena informed her. Jenna walked upstairs and went to see Jeremy.

Damon had returned to the living room. "I need to talk to you" he said, gesturing towards Elena. Elena glanced at Stefan. Who merely shrugged his shoulders. Elena followed Damon into the kitchen. "What were you thinking?" Damon asked, concerned.

"Damon I already had this conversation with Stefan. Do I really need to repeat myself again?" she asked, frustrated.

"Yes you do" he said, quietly. Damon placed both of his arms around Elena's shoulders. He looked straight into her eyes. "Don't ever do something like that again" he scolded.

"Damon I am not a child You need to stop treating me like one" Elena said, fervently. It seemed as though Damon literally wanted to shake some sense into Elena. He was still gripping her shoulders, not letting go. "Elena I have to make sure that you're going to be safe. I can't do that if I don't know what is going on" Damon said. He was beginning to calm down now. He took his hands off of Elena's shoulders. "I'm fine Damon" she insisted. Then he pulled her in close for a hug. Elena was unsure how to react to this. Stefan was in the other room. She didn't have any idea how he would react to this. Finally, Damon let go of her. Elena walked back into the living room. Stefan walked over to Damon. "You know that there is other stuff that we have to talk about. The full moon is tonight" Stefan, seriously.

"Yeah, and I remember all too well what happened the last time" Damon said. They were both trying to be careful and make sure that Jenna could not hear them.

Later that day, Jeremy said that he was going to the grill. Elena told Jenna that she was going with him. Damon gave Jeremy a piercing look. He seemed to be thinking _seriously do you remember what happened the last time you went to the grill._ Jeremy stared back at Damon. The Damon said "Hey Jenna you know what I'll drive them there. I need to go the grill anyhow" he offered.

"Yeah that sounds great" Jenna said. "Oh before I forget, is it okay for Rick to come over tonight?" she asked him.

"Yeah of course" Damon responded. With that Damon, Elena, and Jeremy got into Damon's car. "You know Elena, Klaus is not going to be fooled for long" he said almost as soon as they had left the Salvatore house.

"I know" Elena sighed. "I'm not going to be able to avoid Luka or his dad" Elena said. "My main goal was stay alive as long as possible before he finds out about the rings. Everything didn't really go as I had planned. I sort of hoped that if anything happened to me that it would give you and Stefan a chance to stake him" Elena explained.

"Hmm well I think that might have worked out better if you had let us in our little plan. Stefan and I were a little too busy thinking that you were dead to stake anybody. Excuse us for not being psychic" Damon retorted. Elena stared down at her hands. "Sorry" she mumbled. "But at least we got out without Klaus noticing" she said.

"Yeah that's true" Damon admitted. "We have to find out if he really broke the curse though. If he now has all of the powers that he claims to have that we are in more trouble than we were before" Damon said, ominously. By that time they had reached the grill. Damon, Elena and Jeremy got out of the car and walked into the restaurant.

Stefan was back at the Salvatore house with Jenna. "Hey Stefan um ok this is awkward. Alaric should be here in a few minutes. Do you think that maybe you could . . ." she didn't finish. Stefan immediately understood what she was asking. "You uh want me to leave so you can have some privacy" Stefan said, quickly. Jenna's face turned bright red. "Well tonight is sort of our three month anniversary" she said sheepishly.

"Why don't you just go over to Rick's place?" Stefan asked.

"Well too be honest, his place is small. And it's really cold because the heat doesn't work well there" Jenna said.

"You're right that doesn't sound very romantic" Stefan agreed. It was beginning to rain a little bit. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Stefan answered it and Alaric came in. He was covered in mud. "What happened?" Jenna and Stefan asked simultaneously. Stefan couldn't help it. He laughed a little. Alaric explained that he had slipped getting out of his car. There was a pile of mud, outside of the Salvatore house. "Wow you and I are more alike than I thought" Jenna teased. "I thought that kind of thing only happened to me" she said. "Do you mind if I speak to Rick for a second?" Stefan asked Jenna.

"Yeah sure, of course I don't mind" she told Stefan. Stefan took Alaric aside. He warned him that the full moon should happen between 11 and midnight. "Be careful. If something strange happens you can call me or Damon. Do you have weapons in your car?" Stefan asked.

"Always" Rick answered. Stefan seemed to be satisfied with his answer. Then Stefan left the house.

Alaric walked over to Jenna. He attempted to give her a hug. "Um no Rick. Save it for later. Go take a shower first and then we can have fun" she said slyly. Rick reluctantly agreed with her. "Do you think that Stefan would mind me borrowing some of his clothes" Rick asked Jenna.

"I'm sure he'll be fine with it" Jenna said politely. Alaric gave Jenna a quick kiss on the cheek. Then he headed upstairs. After he had gotten into the shower, Jenna noticed that the fire was dying out. It was cold in the Salvatore house and she decided she would throw another log on it. There weren't any in the usual place, next to the fireplace. Jenna thought that she had seen Damon get firewood from somewhere else once. She remembered that he had gone to a closet that was underneath the staircase. Jenna went over the stairs. Sure enough there was a small door handle. She opened it up and walked into the closet. She didn't see any firewood. She saw that there was a trunk covered up with a tarp. _Maybe it's in here _she thought to herself. Jenna took the tarp off that was covering the trunk. She opened up the lid. Jenna nearly screamed at what she saw. Underneath the lid was bags and bags of blood. Terrified, she quickly slammed the lid shut. She pulled the tarp back over the trunk. Jenna closed the door to the closet. She was breathing very fast. Jenna turned around and saw someone standing behind her. "What wrong Jenna?. "Are you okay? Alaric asked.

"Yeah Rick you just scared me that's all. You got done really fast. Well I have learned to take quick showers since I grew up with three sisters" he explained. "Come on over here" he said. Alaric and Jenna went to sit on the couch. This was not the evening that Jenna had planned out. Jenna couldn't help but to keep thinking about what she had seen in the closet.


	12. Chapter 12

TVD 12

The metal was piercingly cold upon his wrists. The cold could even be felt through the walls of the old slave quarters. Tyler looked around and tried not to think about the unbearable pain that would consume him in less than an hour now. He hoped that it would be easier a second time. He was told that the transformation became progressively easier to deal. Tyler could only hope that this was true. Tyler heard the creak of a rusty door, as it swung open. "I don't want you here!" he yelled, fiercely. Caroline appeared from the doorway.

"Please don't be like that Tyler" she begged. "I-I just want to help" she stammered.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have lied to me" he snapped.

"I'm sorry Tyler. Really, I am" she said, sincerely.

"Sorry doesn't mean anything Caroline. "You knew that there were other vampires besides for you. You lied about that. The worst thing of all is that you knew what really happened to Mason." A few tears began to escape Tyler's eyes. "You knew that they were going to kill him. You didn't do anything about it. You just turned away and pretended not to know what was going on". Tyler had stepped within inches of Caroline's face. He placed his hands on her shoulders. Caroline began to shiver a little bit, from the cold of the shackles. "Tyler I am truly sorry for what happened to Mason. He- he didn't deserve it" Caroline said, helplessly. She was crying now. Tyler gave Caroline, a stern look. "I need you to get out" he said, calmly. Caroline looked at him. Slowly, she shook her head no. Tyler was beginning to get really angry. "You have to leave now!" he shouted at her. Still Caroline, did not move. She had given Tyler no choice. Each passing minute, it was getting closer to the full moon. He grabbed Caroline roughly around the arms, pinning her against the wall. "Leave right now" he said, forcefully. Then without even knowing how or why Tyler grabbed Caroline and began to kiss her. He was kissing her fiercely, passionately. Then finally, it was over. Tyler looked straight into Caroline's eyes.

"You have to leave now" he insisted. Caroline looked back at him. She knew that he was serious. Caroline began to walk away. It was now just a few minutes before 11 o'clock. Tyler stared after her, as Caroline shut the door.

Damon drove the car back towards the Salvatore house. By now, it was nearly 11:30. They were only a couple of minutes away, when they saw a figure walking in the woods. As they got closer, Damon realized that it was Stefan. Damon stopped the car. "What are you doing out here Stefan? Hitchhiking?" Damon teased. "Don't you know that the wolves are out now? We have to get home" Damon said sternly. Stefan stepped into the car. "I know that. I was heading home right now" Stefan protested.

"Why are you not with Jenna in the first place?" Elena demanded. Stefan explained what had happened with Alaric and Jenna.

"Where have you been all this time anyhow?" Damon asked, curiously.

"Well actually I went over to Alaric's apartment" Stefan explained. "I wanted to see if Isobel had any information about werewolves" Stefan answered. Elena was shocked. This was not like Stefan at all. Damon however, smiled. "All right Stefan, breaking and entering, way to go" Damon said, with admiration in his voice. Damon parked the car in front of the Salvatore house. They all walked over towards the front door.

"Dad why do we have to leave?" Luka asked. "It's the middle of the night" he said. Jonas Martin came out from the bedroom. He was carrying boxes filled with clothes, books, and various other essential items. "I did what Klaus asked. I performed the spell. He was given the doppelganger. Tonight I saw her enter the grill. She is alive. I know that she must have been using some kind of magic. Klaus will think that I had a hand in saving her. We have to leave now" he said. Luka knew that his father meant well. He just didn't want to leave.

"Dad I like it here" he protested. "I just switched schools. I don't want to have to leave again" Luka said.

Then Dr. Martin realized what Luka was talking about. "You have really taken a liking to that Bennett girl haven't you?" he asked. Luka did not answer. Instead, he just stared down at the floor.

Finally Luka decided to give in. However, he wanted to have a way to let Bonnie know what had happened. He didn't even care if she thought he was a bad guy. He wanted to let her know that she was wrong. Luka wrote Bonnie a note. He put the note in his pocket and began to help his dad load stuff into the car.

Suddenly, Damon put his hand out in front of Elena. He had stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait" he said sternly.

"Why Damon? What's going on?" Elena asked, nervously.

"There's something wrong" he said simply. Damon looked at Stefan. Then Stefan realized what Damon already knew. Stefan looked completely panic stricken.

"Can one of you guys please tell us what's going on?" Jeremy asked, impatiently. Neither Stefan or Damon answered him. "Quickly get behind us" Damon commanded. Slowly, Stefan turned the doorknob. Stefan had seen enough, that it had confirmed his fears. Quickly he turned toward Elena. "Elena stop, you shouldn't go in there" he warned. "We have to leave" Stefan said, forcefully. Elena rushed past Stefan. She flung the door all the way open and let out a horrifying scream.

Luka and Jonas had the car fully packed. They got into the car and started the engine. The car pulled out of the driveway and went down the street. They had only been traveling for a few minutes when it happened. There was large, shadowy figure that ran right in front of the car. Dr, Martin tried to the swerve the car. The car skidded across the road and hit a tree. Luka looked over at his father. Jonas had hit his head on the steering wheel. He was nearly unconscious. Luka took his seatbelt off and tried to help his father. He did not care that his own arm was bleeding. Jonas was confused. Luka helped him to lift his head up. "What happened?" he asked, in a daze. Luka explained that there had been some sort of animal in the middle of the road. Just then, Luka looked to his right and saw a very large wolf walking slowly towards them. Luka tried to get his father out of the car. The entire front of the car was totally smashed up. Luka wouldn't be able to drive it anywhere. They both managed to start walking away, Luka was not strong enough to run, having to help support his dad. The wolf raced toward them. "Run Luka" his father said to him. Luka didn't even take the time to respond. He continued to try to run, still helping his dad. Jonas was becoming very dizzy from the large gash on his head. The wolf leaped at them. Luka and Jonas both fell to the ground. The wolf was on top of Dr. Martin now. Luka was panicking. He tried to perform a simple spell that would get the wolf off of his father. He couldn't think of anything. Instead, he rushed toward the wolf, hoping to distract him. This only worked for a matter of seconds. The wolf turned toward Luka growling and showing his teeth. Then he abruptly turned around and bit Dr. Martin in the chest. "No!" Luka screamed. Then the wolf ran off into the night. Luka leaned down to where his father was laying. Luka looked around for something to try and stop the bleeding. He ran to the car and took out the first aid kit that his father kept in the back. Luka found some bandages and pressed it to the wound. Then he called 911. He didn't know how long it would take them to arrive. It was bad though, and Dr. Martin kept on bleeding. Time was running out. "Luka I'm so- so sorry" he Jonas stammered.

With tears flowing down his cheeks Luka said "It's ok Dad. Don't worry about it. I love you Dad" Luka said. Jonas was beginning to struggle for breath now. "I- love- you too son" he said, as he lay there on the ground. When the paramedics arrived, it was already too late. Luka laid there, next to his father. He was sobbing. "Dad" he said. The paramedics took Luka to hospital. Luka's arm needed to be examined. He was also severely distraught from everything that had just happened. It was then that Luka decided that whoever did this must be killed.

Elena thought that she had walked into a nightmare. There was blood everywhere in the Salvatore house. There was blood on the floor, the walls, and all over the furniture. Elena was screaming and sobbing hysterically. "Jenna!" she screamed. Elena began to run in the house. A pair of strong hands, grabbed her from behind. "Elena we have to get out of here" Damon said. Through her sobs, Elena managed to try and say a few words.

"No Damon I have to find Jenna" she sobbed. Jeremy was standing in the middle of the living room. He merely stood there, in shock. Damon was now facing Elena. Damon gently placed both hands on Elena's face. "Elena" he stammered. Even Damon seemed to be finding words, difficult to form. "We have to leave" he said again. "He could come back here at any time" Damon informed her. Elena knew who Damon was talking about when he said said "he". Stefan had decided to look around the house. He didn't want Elena to have to see what he was sure that he was going to find. Stefan went upstairs first. There was no sign of Alaric or Jenna anywhere. It was very obvious that Jenna and Alaric were not in the living room at all. Then Stefan went down to the cellar. He opened the door. Sure enough, he saw Jenna and Alaric lying there, blood on their throats. Stefan knelt down to examine Jenna first.

Remarkably, she was still alive. She had lost a lot of blood. Quickly Stefan sat her up, a little bit. He grabbed Jenna and gave her some blood. She was very confused, and not totally conscious.

Stefan walked out of the room for a second. "Damon you need to come down here right away!" he shouted. Damon rushed downstairs immediately. Elena followed him as fast as she could. Elena looked at the scene in front of her. "Jenna" she yelled, so relieved to see that she was alive. Again, Damon held her back. "You can't go near her yet, Elena. We have to make sure that she is okay first" Damon told her. Damon went over to where Alaric was at. He was alive too. Alaric tried to sit up. "What's going on?" he asked, Damon. It was obvious that Alaric needed blood too. Damon cut himself and forced Rick to drink. "You need this" he said simply. "There was an attack" Damon told Alaric.

_Of course Alaric was alive_, Damon thought to himself, _Alaric has a ring._ Then Damon looked down at Alaric's hand. Alaric's ring was missing. Stefan and Damon took Jenna and Alaric upstairs.

"Elena I think that you should examine Jenna again" Damon said. "We can't for obvious reasons. Something still doesn't add up here" he said. After looking over everything, they realized that both Alaric and Jenna seemed completely unharmed except for the bite marks on their necks. It didn't make any sense. Stefan, Damon, Elena, and Jeremy had come to the conclusion that Jenna must be told the truth. First they had to ask Alaric and Jenna what happened though. Jenna was still semi dazed but she managed to start speaking. "Rick had been in the shower. Then he had come downstairs with me" Jenna explained. "We were just talking on the couch" she said. Damon rolled his eyes at this statement. Jenna paused and shot Damon a glaring look. Then she continued. "I was talking to Alaric about a certain discovery that I had made". At this, Stefan and Damon looked at each other, confused. Jenna continued. "I was looking for firewood because it was almost burnt out" she explained. "I went to the closet underneath the staircase." Damon winced because he knew what words were coming next. " I found a trunk full of blood" Jenna said, sounding disgusted and astounded. She visibly took a step back from Stefan and Damon. "I was a showing Alaric the trunk when we heard a noise from behind us" she said. Then Jenna looked down at her feet, not wanting to continue.

Alaric took over where Jenna had left off. "Klaus was standing there. I had vervain and stakes in the car but I obviously couldn't get to it" Alaric said. Alaric explained how Klaus how demonstrated his newly found powers. "He didn't have to be invited in" Alaric said. Alaric continued the story and said "Klaus told Jenna everything. He told Jenna about vampires. He told her that he was the oldest and strongest one. He also told Jenna that I had been lying to her" Alaric said, making a disgusted face, at the last part. Jenna looked at Rick. It was very easy to tell that she was extremely angry with him. Then Alaric continued. "That was when he took my ring". Alaric had been absentmindedly, touching the spot where his ring had been. "He attacked us" Alaric said. "Klaus drank some of our blood but not enough to kill us" Alaric explained. "We both must have passed out. Then we woke up in the cellar" he said. "Actually we probably would have died if you guys hadn't come back when you did" he admitted.

"So he must have taken all the blood out of the trunk. This place was made to look like a massacre had taken place" Stefan said. "But why?" he asked out loud.

Elena looked at him. "You know that Klaus must be trying to send a message" Elena said.

Everyone seemed to agree with this statement. Just then there was a knock on the door. Jeremy cautiously, walked over there. Damon was right behind him, to make sure that no one could hurt him. Slowly, Jeremy opened the door. Elijah was standing there. "Hello" he said. "I have to come to make you all an offer."

Tyler was back in the old slave quarters. He had just transformed back to human form. He got up from the ground that he had been lying on. Tyler looked around and saw that there was a vampire standing in the shadows. Klaus emerged from the darkness. Tyler was still tired, and his breathing was still coming rapidly. "Did I- did I kill that man?" he asked.

A small smile crept over Klaus' lips. "Yes, yes you did" Klaus answered him. It's a good thing too. He had already served his purpose. It's a good thing that the spell worked. I have unlimited powers. I can indeed, control the wolves, as well. I told your stupid friends that I have all of these powers that last time that we met. I can't believe that they were foolish enough, to think that they could fool me. The girl is still alive. She won't be for long. She's lucky that I didn't kill her sweet, naïve aunt and her boyfriend. She will soon find out just what I have planned for all of them" Klaus said. Then with that, he turned and left Tyler standing there in the cold.


	13. Chapter 13

TVD part 13

Everyone stared at Elijah in disbelief. "What makes you think that we are going to invite you in much less make a deal with you?" Damon sneered. Elijah merely smirked at him. "You don't have to invite me in" Elijah said, slyly. "I can tell you what I want from out here if you so desire. I see that the doppelganger is still alive" Elijah said, sarcastically. He was staring in through the open door. Damon turned around at looked at Stefan. He seemed to want to find out what Elijah wanted too. Stefan and Damon stepped out of the house to speak with Elijah. Damon closed the door, behind him. "What do you want?" Stefan asked.

"I want the same thing that you do" Elijah replied. He paused for a moment, before continuing. "I want Klaus dead" he said simply. Again, Stefan and Damon exchanged weary glances. "We don't have any reason to believe you. You were working with Klaus before. We should get ash stakes and kill you right now" Damon said, fiercely. Stefan reached out, grabbing Damon on the shoulder. "Let's just hear what he has to say first" Stefan said, calmly. Damon sighed and crossed his arms, defiantly. "Well?" he asked, impatiently. Elijah ignored him. Instead, he looked directly at Stefan. Then Elijah began to tell them how it was Klaus had betrayed him. Elijah had been unaware of the true meaning of the curse. Klaus had lied to him in order to accomplish his goal. "So what did Klaus tell you?" Stefan asked, curiously. Elijah explained that Klaus had led him to believe that all of the Originals would have the same powers. It was only when he saw Jonas take Klaus' blood only, that Elijah realized that this was not the truth. "As you can see, I still need an invitation to enter a house, where any human resides" Elijah said to Stefan and Damon.

At this, Elijah tried to enter the Salvatore house. However, he was unable to.

"Well that can't be all that you want" Damon said slyly. "There is something that you are not telling us" he said, brusquely. Elijah gave Damon a faint smile. "Yes there is a little more to it than that" he admitted. "We will need the girl. Klaus will be coming to get her as soon as he finds out that she is still alive" Elijah told them. Stefan shifted his eyes, slightly. Elijah was very smart, and he caught onto the tiniest changes in demeanor. "Ah- so Klaus already knows about the girl. That would make sense." he said, quietly. Damon had moved directly in front of Elijah now. "You're not going to touch Elena" he said, forcefully. Elijah moved slightly closer to Damon. "_I _do not have to do anything at all. Klaus will find any means necessary to execute his plan" Elijah told them. "Now if you don't want my help. . ." he began. Elijah turned and started to walk away.

"Wait" Stefan said, helplessly. Elijah turned around, knowing that he had gotten what he wanted. Damon stared at him, in disbelief. Stefan moved closer to the door. Then he opened the door. "Jeremy please invite him in" Stefan said, politely. Jeremy looked unsure at first. Then he said, "Come in" in a shaky voice. Elena was beyond angry. "No, Stefan don't" she begged. Stefan looked Elena straight in the eye.

"We have to. He may be our only chance to beat Klaus" he said, seriously. With these last words, Elijah stepped into the Salvatore house.

Jenna was furious. She was not speaking to anyone in the house. Now, that she knew what was really going on, she could think of nothing else. She had barricaded herself, in her room. Rick was exasperated. It was like trying to reason with an angry child who had not gotten their way. He realized there was so much for to it than that though. "Jenna come on. You have to come out sometime!" he shouted. "I'm not going to stand here all day" he added, as an after thought. Jenna was sitting on her bed. Her head was spinning. Elena, Jeremy, and Alaric had all been lying to her. She had been kept totally in the dark, having to fend for herself. She was so mad at them all. Jenna was hoping that the Gilbert house would soon be rebuilt. It seemed to be taking forever. In reality the fire had only occurred a little over a week ago. She couldn't think of that now. There were still so many issues that Jenna was trying to process. Elena had been dating a vampire. He has a brother who is also a vampire. Bonnie is a witch. Tyler is a werewolf. Caroline is a vampire. The oldest and most powerful vampire in the world had just tried to kill her, her boyfriend, and niece in the last couple of days. He had apparently, kidnapped her nephew, as well. All this she had learned within the past few hours. Jenna had tried to block out the conversation that she had had with Elena. Jenna wanted no part of all of this craziness. She just wanted to be normal. Apparently, normal was just not going to be an option for her.

Bonnie was at the hospital. Caroline had heard from her mother that Dr. Martin had died. It had been reported as another animal attack. Ironically, enough, this was actually a true statement for the first time. She knocked on the door to Luka's room. There was no answer, but she went in anyhow. Luka had been kept overnight for observation. "Luka?" Bonnie, said softly. Luka turned his head toward her . He was shocked to see that Bonnie was there. "I know that you hate me" he began. Bonnie shook her head.

"I'm so sorry" she said, sincerely. Luka stared down at his arm. There was a large gash and he was badly bruised. "If I could have- only thought of a spell" he stammered. "I could of saved him. It was my fault" he cried. Bonnie walked closer to him. She took Luka's uninjured hand, in hers. "It's not your fault" she said. Bonnie wasn't even sure why she was comforting him so much. Luka had helped his father to capture Elena. He didn't seem to care about that. Then at the same time, all she felt was pity. Bonnie could empathize with Luka. Bonnie's grams had died because of all of this supernatural stuff too. She too, had died, seemingly for nothing. Bonnie didn't want to ask her next question. However, it was imperative that she did. She needed to know what happened. Caroline had not been sure of the true story. "What happened?" Bonnie asked, suddenly. Luka stared at her for a few moments, that seemed to last for an eternity. Then quickly, as if to get it over with, he said, "It was Tyler. I'm sure of it. There was a full moon last night and we were attacked by a wolf" Luka, managed to say. Then he had to look away. Luka couldn't stand to say anymore. _Maybe he really didn't know everything that happened _Bonnie thought to herself. He couldn't think about that terrible event again. Bonnie moved her hand up and down Luka's arm. Then she gave his hand a tight squeeze. Bonnie looked straight in Luka's eyes. "I am very sorry for what happened to you" she said. Luka was very grateful for Bonnie at this time. He really needed a friend to talk to . He was perhaps even more astonished, than she was, that she was being so friendly to him. _If truth be told, I don't really deserve this_ he thought. Then Luka pointed at this jacket, laying on the table. Bonnie walked over and handed it to him. Luka took out a small piece of paper that he had stuffed into the pocket last night. "Here" he said simply. "I wrote this to you last night and I was going to use a spell to send it to you" Luka said to Bonnie. Bonnie took the paper and carefully unfolded it. She read the letter that Luka had written to her. When she was almost done, reading Luka said "I didn't want you to remember me as a bad guy". Bonnie looked up from the paper.

"It's okay Luka" she assured him. With that, she leaned over and gave Luka a kiss on the cheek. "I have to go now" she said. Bonnie waved to Luka as she left the hospital room.

Back at the Salvatore house, another meeting was underway. Elijah was explaining what he thought that they should do. "We will have to use Elena to get Klaus to show himself. Although, we may not have to wait, considering what I was told happened last night" Elijah said. "We will not use Elena as bait" Stefan said, forcefully.

"Oh that's great" Damon said. "Now is a good time to stand up to him, after, you already invited him in" Damon said sarcastically to Stefan. Stefan did not reply. He was pacing in the living room. Elena was sitting on the couch, still stunned at the recent turn of events. Damon placed his hands, on Elena's shoulders. He didn't even seem to realize that he had moved them at all. Elena didn't say anything to him. "We have to find a way to stop Klaus. He must be killed" Alaric said. Everyone agreed with what Alaric had said.

"I don't want anything to happen to Elena" Jeremy said, concerned.

"Thanks Jer, but we have to do something" Elena told him.

"I'll put a stake right through his heart, the next chance that I get" Damon said, fiercely. Elijah began to laugh. "You will never be able to that" he said. "You will need a great deal of help" Elijah told Damon. Damon was not happy to hear this, but he knew that it was true. Then he noticed that Stefan was glaring at him. He looked really angry about something. "What?" Damon asked Stefan suddenly.

Stefan pointed to Damon's hands. He had taken one of them from Elena's shoulders and was now, absentmindedly, running his fingers through her long brown hair. Elena was not disturbed, in the least. Actually Elena found Damon's touch to be very calming. "Could you not do that now?" Stefan asked, annoyed.

"Well sure, I wouldn't want to make you feel awkward or anything now would I?" Damon asked, snidely. Then he threw both up his hands up in the air, showing his disdain for Stefan's statement. Damon took a few steps back from Elena and tried to focus on something else. Finally it seemed that they came up with a plan. Alaric announced that he was going back home. The rest of the day was uneventful. The next morning it came time to set the plan in motion.

Someone knocked on the door. Damon answered it, to see Alaric standing there. "Right on time as always" Damon said. Alaric entered the Salvatore house. Elena and Jeremy were in the kitchen finishing breakfast. "Come on guys, I have to take you to school" Alaric said. Elena looked very confused. "What do you mean? I'm not going to school" she said. "Actually, you are" Damon said to her. Elena looked angry and hurt that no one had informed her of this. "Elena you have to go because you've missed a lot of days" Stefan said. "At this point it could reflect badly on graduation next year. And plus we really need you to let Bonnie and Caroline in on the plan" Stefan told Elena. "Actually you need to tell Bonnie that she has to come over here right away after school today" Stefan added. Elena nodded but did not say anything. She walked over to where Alaric was standing. "Well come on Jeremy, we're going to be late" she said.

Then Damon spoke up and said "Jeremy isn't going. We need him here. He has to help us set everything up". Elena looked completely livid. She ran out the door, slamming it behind her. Damon ran after her. Elena was opening the car door, when she felt his hands on her arm. She turned around, glaring at Damon. "What?" she asked, clearly angry and annoyed. Damon sighed then he began to speak. "Just one more day, this could all be over in one more day" he said, softly. "Please trust me with this" he pleaded, with her. Then Damon leaned over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. He left and Elena got into the car with Alaric. Elena looked over at Alaric. "Please don't say anything" she said. Alaric looked over at her and gave her a warm smile. "I won't say anything" he promised.

"Do you understand?" Klaus asked, seriously. The person that he was talking to, shook a little. "I understand" the voice, responded.

"Good" Klaus said. He was very pleased with this plan. There had been a very interesting turn of events, within the last few hours. "If you fail, I will kill you" Klaus threatened. . Again the person, nodded in acknowledgment. "Well get to work then" Klaus ordered. With that, Klaus' servant got up and walked out of the room.

The last bell had just rung. Alaric was waiting for Elena in the history classroom. It took her nearly ten minutes to get there. "What took so long?" he asked, when she finally arrived. "Sorry, I got stuck talking to a teacher after school. Where's Bonnie?" she asked. They continued talking as they walked to the car.

"Bonnie is already headed to the Salvatore house to put the charm on" he answered "She left school a little early" he informed her.

Elena nodded. "And what about Jenna?" Elena asked, concerned. Alaric and Elena got in the car and he started driving to the Salvatore house.

"Damon made sure that Jenna's boss has her work late tonight" Alaric answered. Elena frowned. Alaric knew how much she disapproved of compulsion. "Okay so Elijah is going to get in touch with Klaus. Then he will enter the house. And Bonnie is putting the charm on so that no vampire will be able to leave the house, once they've come in. So vampires can come in but they can't leave once they are there right?" Elena asked.

"Yes that is all correct" Alaric said. "Then we kill Klaus" Alaric said. Elena was not very confident about the last part.

Suddenly, it began pouring rain. Luckily, they were almost there. "You would think that after last time I would've put an umbrella in the car right?" Alaric asked aloud. Elena gave him a small smile. "Well that's not the case, so we're going to have to run" he informed her. Alaric parked as close to the house as he could get. He ran to the door and opened it. "Hurry up Elena! It's pouring out here" he yelled. Elena was having trouble getting her books out of the car. Finally, she got out of the car and ran toward the house. Alaric was still holding the door open. "Come on, let's get inside, the water is coming in" he said. Alaric happily closed the door, behind her. "Hey Stefan can you get us some towels?" Alaric shouted.

"Yeah" Stefan replied from far away. Then Damon came over.

"Elena you're soaking wet" he said.

"Well, it's raining outside, Damon" she said. Elena chuckled a little, at this . Then she touched Damon gently on the arm "Well at least you're safe" he said to her. Damon hugged Elena. Suddenly, without warning, Damon flung Elena against the wall. She hit it, very hard. He rushed over and had her pinned there. "Very nice, Damon, I guess I can't fool you twice" Katherine said.

"Nice try Katherine but I know your little tricks now" he said, through gritted teeth. Everyone had rushed over to see what was going on. "What's going on?" Stefan demanded. "It's Katherine" Damon, said simply. "She used Alaric because she knew he wouldn't be able to tell the difference" Damon said. "Now you're going to tell me where Elena is right now you little wench!" Damon screamed. Katherine merely smiled at him. "Bonnie's already put the charm on. That means we're stuck in here with her" Stefan said. Just then there was a knock on the door. Stefan opened it. Klaus was standing outside, holding Elena in his arms. She was bound and gagged. "Hello" Klaus said. "I think that I may have something of yours."


	14. Chapter 14

TVD part 14

Stefan and Damon both rushed over to the door. Klaus stepped into the house, as though he were a welcome guest. "As you can see I don't need an invitation in" Klaus said, smugly. Damon looked as though, he wanted to rip Klaus' heart out then and there. "Don't do anything stupid" Klaus warned. Then Klaus reached into his pocket and pulled out a long chain. "It seems as though I have found a very interesting piece of jewelry" Klaus said. "Elena was not happy about parting with it. There are two very special objects on this chain. There is a charm filled with vervain. Then there is my personal favorite, the ring that avoids supernatural death" he stated, as though reading through a textbook. He stared straight at Damon. Then said, "One false move, and I snap her neck. This time she won't back" Klaus said, nonchalantly. Human life meant nothing to him. Klaus could kill everyone in the house, without thinking twice about it. Everyone was afraid to even move, not knowing what might happen to Elena. Katherine was carefully observing the situation. Even she, was greatly in awe of the power that was Klaus. Klaus walked further into the Salvatore house. Carefully, while still holding Elena in one hand, he took the long chain and threw it into the fire. Elena watched as her necklace was swallowed up in the flames. "What is it that you want?" Stefan asked suddenly. Klaus smiled sadistically at Stefan. Then he looked him straight in the eyes and said in a chillingly icy voice "I want death. A price must be paid for thinking that anyone could outsmart me". Stefan was afraid. He was nearly shaking. No one had ever encountered someone like Klaus. Even Damon was scared. He didn't know what to do. Damon kept looking back and forth between Klaus, Elena, and Katherine. The look in Elena's eyes said it all. She was terrified. There was a fear in her eyes, that Damon had never seen before. Suddenly Klaus released his grasp on Elena. However, with one look at her, she knew better than to try to run anywhere. She had to stay right here, next to Klaus. Elena had never felt so helpless in her entire life. It was then that there was the sound of a door closing, from within the back of the house. Within moments, Elijah had appeared at the end of the hallway. "Hello Klaus" he said. "It is so nice to see you here".

Matt had only been at work for about an hour when Tyler walked into the grill. "Hey man what's up?" Tyler asked. Matt shook his head, sadly.

"You know man, it's been rough since my mom left. And when she came back for a few days she didn't give me any money. The bills just keep piling up and I don't make that much cash. I'm thinking that I might have to rent out the house and move into an apartment or something" Matt said.

"Wow that sucks man. If there is anything that I can do to help, you can just ask you know" Tyler said. Matt was used to being on his own. Truthfully, he needed the help, but he really didn't want to ask. Matt shrugged. "Yeah thanks but I'll be ok" Matt assured him. Then one of the managers started calling Matt's name. "Hey Matt I need you over here at this table" he said.

"I gotta go" Matt said to Tyler. Tyler nodded and went to sit down at a table, nearby. Matt walked over to the table.

There was a tall man there, who had dirty blond hair and piercing green eyes. He was sitting alone. "Yes sir, may I help you?" Matt asked.

"Yes, I'd like to order a cheeseburger and a coke" he said simply. Then Matt noticed, that this man was looking at him strangely. "Um- sir is there something wrong?" he asked. The man seemed to be in a sort of daze. "Oh I'm so sorry. I saw from your nametag that your name is Matt" he stated uncertainly.

"Why, yes sir" Matt answered, hesitantly.

"Sorry it's just that I used to have a friend named Matt. He passed away a few years ago. It was very rough on me" he said, solemnly. Matt was taken aback from what this man had just told him. He didn't know what to do or say. Finally, Matt walked off to place the order. Several minutes later, the food was done and Matt delivered it to the mysterious man. "Here you are sir" Matt said. The man thanked him. Then Matt said "I'm sorry". The man looked up at him from the table. He seemed confused. "About what?" he asked.

"I'm sorry about your friend" Matt said simply.

"Oh thank you" the man said. Then Matt walked away and began to wait on the other tables. Another twenty minutes passed and the man called Matt over to get his check. Matt brought it to him. After the man left the restaurant, Matt saw the tip was sticking out underneath the checkbook. Matt took the money out and took a second look at the bill in his hand. It was a one hundred dollar bill. Surely, there had been some mistake. Matt rushed outside, but the man was nowhere in sight. For the rest of the day, Matt wondered who this strange guy had been. Matt couldn't help but to think that he had seen him somewhere before.

"Hand the girl over" Elijah said calmly. Klaus merely sneered at Elijah in response. Suddenly Klaus and Elijah began to circle each other like two tigers waiting to pounce.

Then everything began to happen at once. Elijah pulled out a stake. Klaus retrieved a stake, seemingly from nowhere. Katherine lunged toward Stefan and Damon. Jeremy ran over to Elena to take the gag out and untie her. "Thank you Jeremy" Elena managed to say. "Don't worry about it" he told her, amid all of the chaos. Jeremy and Alaric were both armed with stakes and vervain. "Jeremy you need to leave" Elena said, seriously. Jeremy looked at Elena and he could see how much it meant to her, in her eyes. "Elena" he began. "I can help. I want to stay" he protested. Then Elena pointed out at all the fighting that was going on. "Look at that Jeremy. Stefan and Damon can barely handle Katherine. Klaus and Elijah are nearly evenly matched, but Elijah is still struggling. You and Alaric should both leave" she said forcefully.

"Elena I'm not going to leave you here. I'm going to try to help" Jeremy said, stubbornly. Finally, Elena gave up and turned her attention to all of the fighting that was taking place.

Tyler was playing pool at the grill with Caroline. Luka walked up to them, and said "Hey guys how is it going?" Caroline and Tyler both looked up. Luka had just been released from the hospital last night. "Hi Luka. How are you?" Caroline asked, hesitantly. Luka

gave her a very weak smile. "I'm not very good Caroline. I'm sure that you must know what happened. I mean your mom is the sheriff, after all" Luka said. Caroline looked a little, embarrassed.

"Yeah Luka I heard" she said quietly. "I'm am so sorry for what happened to your father" she said, sincerely. Tyler was shifting his eyes back and forth. He was trying to avoid looking at Luka directly. "What's wrong Tyler? You look nervous" Luka said, coolly. Tyler forced himself to make eye contact. He felt horrible about killing Luka's father. He knew that he couldn't control what he had done but the pain of taking a life was almost unbearable. "No I'm fine" Tyler lied quickly. Luka nodded his head, but it was clear that he did not agree. All of a sudden, Tyler grabbed his head in pain. "Ah!" he screamed. Everyone in the grill turned to look at him. "Tyler what's wrong? What's happening?" Caroline asked, sounding, frantic. Tyler could not respond. He was in so much pain that he dropped to the floor on his knees. Someone in the restaurant had taken out their cell phone to call 911. Luka stood before them, looking extremely happy with the situation. Then Caroline realized what was going on. She had seen Bonnie use this trick before. "Stop that!" she yelled at the Luka. More people turned to stare that them. Then Caroline tried lowering her voice. "Why don't you make me stop?" Luka challenged. "Oh that's right because you don't want everyone to know what you are." he said. By now, Tyler was lying on the floor, writhing in pain. Suddenly, Caroline grabbed Luka's arm and twisted it very hard, around his back. She held it there, firmly until Luka begged her to let him go. Finally, the pain in Tyler's head stopped. He was able to regain his breath. Caroline leaned down and helped him up off of the floor. "Are you ok?" Caroline asked, breathlessly. It took a minute before Tyler could respond. "I'm ok. I'll be alright" Tyler said, through a strained voice. "Thank you Caroline" he said. Caroline glared at Luka. "You need to leave now" she warned. Luka smiled at her.

"Well of course, I'll leave. I know when I'm not wanted" he said. With that Luka turned his back on them and left.

Katherine was having a lot of fun fighting with Stefan and Damon. "You see Stefan, my love, I told you that I would be back for you" she teased, as she caught a stake in midair throwing it back towards him. "Yes Katherine you did, and I knew that you would" Stefan said, as he dodged the stake. Damon ran over closer to Katherine, grabbing a stake and stabbing her in the side. Katherine groaned in pain, but she was nowhere close to letting them win. She still managed to hit Damon pretty hard in the face with her fist. Katherine was angry now. She took Stefan and threw him across the room. His back hit an arm chair in the living room. Katherine threw a stake at him. It him Stefan in the shoulder. It seemed as though it went all the way through. Stefan screamed out in agonizing pain. He was pinned to the chair.

On the other side of the room, Alaric stepped out from where he was hiding. He shot vervain at Klaus. This was not a particularly good idea, on Alaric's behalf. Klaus ran over to Alaric and threw him into the wall. Alaric fell to the ground, unconscious. Elena screamed, but she knew better than to go near Alaric. Suddenly, Jeremy started running from nearby. He rushed over toward where Alaric was laying, wanting to make sure that he was ok. Elena seemed to realize what was going to happen, before Jeremy did. "No!" Elena screamed. Klaus had now turned his attention to Jeremy. It would only take a split second for Klaus to kill him. What happened next, was seemingly instantaneous. Klaus grabbed Jeremy by the neck, holding him in the air. Jeremy was struggling for breath. Suddenly Klaus found a barricade between him and Jeremy. Damon was standing in between them. Quickly, Damon stabbed Klaus in the chest with an ash stake. Klaus was extremely fast though, and moved before Damon could connect the stake with his heart. Klaus dropped Jeremy to the floor as he felt the searing pain of ash in his chest. Ash wood felt like a hot poker to vampires. It was ten times worse than vervain. Unfortunately, Klaus had also been able to get in a good swipe in at Damon. Elena rushed over to make sure that Jeremy was ok. That was when she noticed that Damon was bleeding.

Elijah did not hesitate with his chance to stake Klaus. He stabbed Klaus several times in the back. Klaus was groaning and sighing with pain. Even in so much pain, Klaus still managed to walk over toward Stefan. He grabbed a stake and before anyone could do anything about it, he was lunging for his heart. There was a scream and groan of pain. Everyone stared in disbelief at what had happened. Katherine had jumped in front of Stefan. Katherine's body slumped to the floor. There was a stake sticking out of her chest. Luckily, it had not pierced her heart. "Stefan I told you I loved you" she whispered.

"Katherine" Stefan said, quietly. Klaus was not phased by what happened to Katherine. He merely turned around, getting back to what he was doing.

Damon was lying on the floor. The blood was seeping through his shirt. He was in a lot of pain from the stake. Elena took the stake out of his chest as gently as she could. Elena looked at the wound. Her mind went back to the time that Damon got bitten by Tyler. The only relief that Elena had was that this wound did not seem as bad the other one. However, Damon would not be able to heal as quickly from this wound. Elena bent down and handed her wrist over to Damon. He stared into her eyes for a few moments . Then be bit into her wrist.

Klaus was now walking around, triumphantly. He seemed to be ignoring the pain that he was in. "Oh the infamous Salvatore brothers are very easy to beat after all" he said. Klaus continued to speak. Even Elijah, seemed interested in what he had to say. Klaus seemed to have this aura about him. Everything seemed to cease when he would speak. "You think that I don't know who you are? I have been around long enough to know about what happened with Katherine and the Salvatores. Blood only runs so deep, you know. Then he turned toward Katherine. She was very weak and she needed blood. "You knew where I was the whole time?" she asked. "Then how come you didn't kill me?" Katherine said, suspiciously. Klaus looked closely at Katherine. "How do you think that these humans knew vampires existed? Where do you think the idea for the council is from? You think that Gilbert, Salvatore, Lockwood and Forbes thought of it themselves do you? I told them about vampires. I pointed you out to Giuseppe. I planted the idea of the journals in their minds" Klaus confessed. Katherine was startled.

"You see how I can get rid of my enemies. I get others to do it for me" Klaus said. Then he laughed. It was a terrible laugh, an evil laugh. Then Klaus began speaking to Stefan and Damon. "Too bad you don't have the Salvatore journal. There was some information in there that you might find very interesting. Isn't there Damon?" he asked, suddenly. Damon looked confused. "Maybe you don't know, what happened then" Klaus teased.

Klaus walked over to Damon and stuck the stake in his leg. Damon groaned in pain. Everyone had been still as statues listening to Klaus' every word. No one even knew what was happening, until it had already taken place. Elijah grabbed a stake and stabbed Klaus several more times. Klaus fell to the ground in pain. Then Jeremy shot vervain at Klaus, not wanting to waste any time. He would only be down for a matter of moments. Elena took the stake out of Damon's leg and tried to plunge it into Klaus' heart. Elena felt strong hands, grasp the end of the stake and help her push it in. She turned around to see Jeremy was helping her. The stake connected with Klaus' skin and sunk into his chest. At first, she thought that she must have missed. Then miraculously, Klaus' body started to turn gray.

Everyone was in utter shock. At first no one could move. Everyone was staring down at Klaus. Is it possible that he was really dead? Elijah spoke, before anyone else could. "We will have to burn the body to make sure" he said. Finally, Elena seemed to regain the ability to move. She walked over to Stefan and finally was able to take the stake out of his shoulder. Although in reality, the stake had only been in for a few minutes. It felt like an eternity to Stefan. The wound was bad and it was obvious that he needed blood. Then she and Jeremy helped Katherine up. "Why are you helping me?" she asked, breathlessly.

"We are helping you because we know that you will help us" Elena said. Katherine gave her a weak smile. "I knew that you had the Petrova fire in you" she said. Jeremy gave her some blood and then she rested on the couch. Stefan's shoulder was beginning to heal already. Damon was not so lucky. It would take a while for his wounds to heal totally. Alaric had finally woken up. He was dazed and confused by what was going on.

"Thank you Elena" Damon whispered, softly to her. Then he turned to him. Elena gave Damon a warm hug. She looked straight into his eyes. "Thank you so much" she said, sincerely. "You saved Jeremy's life" she said.

"Yeah well I owed it to him" Damon told her. Elena was staring at his face. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. Damon smiled at her. Elena was happy that everyone she loved was ok.

"Are you going to be here by tomorrow?" Aunt Jenna asked.

"Yes" the man on the other line answered.

"Good we need to fill out these papers. It's already been almost two weeks since the fire. It's about time that you got here" Jenna said, snidely.

"I'll there by noon tomorrow" the man said.

"Ok I guess I will see you tomorrow then, John" Jenna said, as she hung up the phone.


	15. Chapter 15

The sign read, _Welcome to Mystic Falls. _John gripped the steering wheel, even harder as he passed by. This town did not hold happy memories for him, as of late. He had come here just weeks ago, to find that his own daughter was dating a vampire. Then he had a very unfortunate meeting with Katherine, where he ended up nearly dead. Only a few months before, he had been here for the funeral of his brother and sister in law. John only returned now, out of legal obligation. Legally speaking, he was the owner of the Gilbert house. He now had to return to sign some papers regarding the fire that had taken place. He was sure that this had also been the work of vampires. _Vampires, _he thought to himself._ What loathsome, vile, creatures they were. They all deserved to have a true death. _John decided, he was more than willing to give it to them, should the occasion present itself.

It was still early morning, around 8:30. Damon had just gotten up and walked downstairs, stretching his arms .After a few minutes, Damon looked over to Stefan and said "Where did Elijah go?"

"While you were sleeping this morning, Elijah came here and took Klaus' body. I watched from here and I saw the smoke rising in the forest. Klaus is dead" Stefan explained. Damon stared at him in disbelief. "You let Elijah dispose of Klaus?" Damon asked. "You can't trust him!" he yelled.

Stefan was standing his ground firmly. "He needed to know that we trust him. We could always use Elijah on our side in case anything else happens" Stefan explained. "Now you are absolutely sure that you saw him burn Klaus right?" Damon asked.

"Yes Damon, I saw all of the smoke. I could smell the burnt ashes, that were carried by the wind" Stefan said.

"Well ok then, as long as you're sure" Damon said, snidely.

"Drop it Damon" Stefan said, seriously. Damon looked at him, but did not say another word on the subject.

Stefan walked over to where Katherine was sitting on the couch. "What are we going to do with you?" he asked.

"You will do nothing with me" she answered. "I'm going to sit on the couch while you go and get some blood. It is the least you could do you know" she said to Stefan.

"Alright" he agreed. I will go the blood banks and get some blood. We need a fresh supply, anyhow" he stated.

Matt was waiting tables, when he saw the man, who had given him the generous tip. He walked straight over to the man, holding out the one hundred dollar bill. "Hello sir" Matt said shyly. The man looked up from his plate. "I wanted to give this back to you. I know that it must have been a mistake" Matt said, sheepishly. At first the man did not respond. "No" he said, simply. Matt was confused.

"You don't want to take it back?" he asked. The man shook his head, no.

"It was not a mistake" he told Matt. "I wanted you to have that money" he said, truthfully.

"Sir I can't possibly accept this" Matt said. Then he placed the bill on the table. The man glared at him. "You must take this money back" he said, forcefully. He handed the money back to Matt. Matt was startled. "I want to make a request. I need for you to call me by my name. My name is Michael and I wish for you to call me by my name from now on" he said.

"Yes sir- I mean Michael" Matt corrected, quickly.

"Thank you" Michael said to him. With that, the man continued eating his meal.

"I'll be back in an hour" Stefan said to Damon and Elena. He gave Damon a warning stare, before leaving. Stefan had just closed the door when Katherine got up off the couch.

"I'm going with him" she announced, suddenly. Within in an instant, Katherine had left the room and followed Stefan.

Damon smiled at Elena. "Finally alone" he said, with a smirk. Elena couldn't help herself, she laughed.

"Aunt Jenna's going to be home soon, you know. She only went to buy groceries and get her hair done" Elena said.

"I know. Don't worry, we won't let her catch us again" Damon said. Damon instantly realized his mistake.

"Again?" Elena said, not sounding, pleased.

"Oh come on, Elena, you know what happened. I didn't mean to say that" Damon said, sincerely. Elena would do anything to completely erase all events that had occurred on Founders Day.

"I know" she sighed, the memories all running through her mind.

Damon was closer to her now. He ran his hand over her cheek. "Elena you know that I will spend all of eternity making up for everything that I've done to you right?" he asked, softly.

"I know Damon. You saved Jeremy. It's just so many things have happened. And I-" she couldn't continue. A single tear fell from Elena's eye. Damon took his finger and wiped it away.

Then he leaned up and kissed her forehead. "Elena look at me" he said, softly. Elena looked up into his eyes. "It's ok. I know-" he paused. "I know that you still love Stefan. I just want you to know that I'm always here for you" he said. Damon backed up a little, to give her some space. Elena moved forward. She was moving closer to him. Then Damon realized that he was beginning to feel something that he hadn't felt since he was human. He realized that he was nervous. He knew what was going to happen, mere seconds before it did. Elena leaned up, carefully placing her arms around his neck. Then she leaned in and began to kiss him. It was slow at first. Then it became more forceful, more passionate. It was nothing like Elena or Damon had ever felt. Electricity seemed to flow between them. For those fleeting moments, it was as though they were one. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, that jolted them back into reality.

Damon held Elena in his arms for a few more seconds, not wanting to let go of her. He was holding her, against his chest, with one hand on her hair. "Don't answer" he whispered in her ear. The knocking continued. It was becoming more rapid and harsh. Finally, Elena gave Damon a look that he knew well. It was her serious look. "Fine" he said, grumpily. He released Elena from his grasp and went to open the door.

When Damon opened the door, his frown became even bigger, at the sight of the man standing in the doorway. "Why hello Damon. It's been a while since I saw you last." John said as he walked into the Salvatore house. Damon was furious. He hated this man, with every fiber of his being. "What are you doing here John?" Damon asked, harshly.

"I'm in town to fill out some papers, regarding the fire incident" said, John. Then John began to walk towards Elena. "Hello Elena" John said, pleasantly.

The look in Elena's eyes was one of daggers. "Hello Father" she responded, icily. John was taken aback by this statement.

"Elena it was all for the best" John said.

"Was it really?" she asked. "A lot of innocent people were hurt because of you. The mayor was killed. You killed Anna even though, you knew what she meant to Jeremy. Caroline, Matt, and Tyler were all nearly killed because of you. And Stefan and Damon were nearly killed as well" Elena finished. John turned his gaze toward Damon.

"Yes, it is unfortunate that some of those things occurred. However, it is all to serve the greater good" he said, nonchalantly. "

"The greater good?" Damon yelled. "Oh yeah, that's right, being nearly burned alive was for the greater good. Sorry John, that was my mistake. I completely forgot that you wouldn't be able to serve the greater good because Stefan saved me from the fire. Hey John why don't you just set me on fire now? Then maybe a greater good could be accomplished" Damon teased. John smiled at him.

"Well I'm all for that idea" John replied. Damon grabbed John and pinned him against the wall.

"Hey John, guess you're not so tough now. You don't have your ring anymore" Damon said.

"Damon stop it!" Elena commanded. Immediately, Damon released his grip on John.

"You see?" John asked Elena, quickly. She did not respond. A key was turning in the door. Aunt Jenna was back. Uncle John answered the door. "Hey John, you're here" she said, very unenthusiastically. John went out to help Jenna bring the groceries in. "We should leave as soon as possible to go sign the papers" Jenna said. John nodded his head in agreement. Within, a few minutes, Jenna and John had left the Salvatore house.

"You know Stefan, you can't ignore me forever" Katherine said, as they were driving back towards the house. Stefan looked over at her, and gave her a half smile.

"You're right Katherine. You did save my life, and for that I am very grateful" Stefan said, sincerely. Katherine smiled back at him.

"I told you that I came back for you" she said to Stefan. Stefan remained silent, at this remark. "You know that he's still in love with Elena right?" Katherine asked suddenly. Stefan paused, before answering, knowing that once again, Katherine was right. "I know" Stefan sighed. Katherine didn't know about the kiss. The pain in Stefan's eyes, gave him away.

"Ah", Katherine said, as though finally understanding a joke. "So something happened between them. It was only a matter of time" she said, knowingly.

"Still, Elena's not you. She never will be" Stefan said. "We are still broken up, at the moment" he added. "She would never play games with us both, as you did Katherine" Stefan said.

"No" Katherine, agreed. "_I _didn't love both of you, though" Katherine said. A few minutes passed, before Stefan spoke again.

"Why?" he asked, suddenly. Katherine turned her head back to look at him. "Why did you turn both of us then?" he asked. Katherine let out a small laugh.

"I was having too much fun Stefan. I had two very handsome men, who loved me and were fighting over me. I had the opportunity to have both chivalrous Salvatore men at my side for all eternity. Why wouldn't I want that?" she asked him. By now, Stefan had pulled the car in front of the house. Then they both walked inside, without saying another word to one another.

Matt noticed that Michael was still sitting at the table. He had finished his meal long ago. He had been sitting at the table for over three hours now. He was reading the newspaper. However, it was only one section. He seemed to be looking at the same page over and over again. The manager had pulled Matt aside, and asked him to tell Michael politely, that he needed to leave. Uncomfortably, Matt walked over to the table. "Um hello, Michael" he said, quietly. Michael looked up from the paper that he was reading.

"Yes" he said. Matt explained what his manager had said to him. Michael nodded his head in agreement. Then he looked at his watch.

"Wow I didn't realize that I had been here this long" he said to Matt. Matt said goodbye to him. Then he went in the back to get a rag, to wipe down the table. When he came back, Matt realized that Michael had left his newspaper there. Matt picked it up, intent on giving it back to Michael the next day. Then Matt looked at the paper and dropped it to the floor in shock. The paper was from a few months ago. It was the _Mystic Falls Times._ Michael had been reading the obituary section. There was a picture of Vicki and a short article about her. The whole article had been circled with black ink. Matt picked up the paper, and put it in his pocket. He still had another two hours, before his shift ended. He realized that he must confront Michael.

"Damon, Elena, we're back" Stefan called out into the house. Stefan carried the cooler down to the cellar. When he came back up, he saw Damon rounding the corner. He looked at Stefan and Katherine. "Where's Elena?" Stefan asked. Damon paused for a moment before answering, "she's upstairs, in the shower. She will be down very soon" he said.

Stefan eyed Damon suspiciously. Then Damon crossed his arms, defensively. "Relax Stefan, I'm right here" Damon assured him. Katherine was taking in the scene between the two brothers, on the couch. A big smile crept across her face. "What?" Damon asked, suddenly. Katherine looked over in his direction.

"Oh, nothing" she said, slyly. "It's just that I love to watch you two bicker. It takes me back to good times" Katherine said. Within a few minutes, Elena had come downstairs. She looked straight at Damon and Stefan, trying to avoid eye contact with Damon. "Hello" she said to him. Elena told them what had happened with Uncle John. Stefan was furious. He hated Uncle John as much as everyone else did.

"There is something else that needs to discussed" Stefan said. "We have to find out what Klaus meant when he was talking about some secret in our father's journal" he said. Damon shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea what he was talking about" Damon said.

"We are going to have to look for the journal. Maybe John knows where it is" Stefan suggested.

"Well John isn't going to just tell us where it is, if he even, knows" Elena said. Stefan agreed.

"That is why, we are going to have to be sneaky about it" Stefan said. Immediately everyone turned to look at Katherine. "No, I am not doing that. I am going to leave" she said. Katherine got up and walked over to Stefan. She placed her hand upon his face stroked his cheek. "My sweet Stefan, I cannot stay here and be a part of your merry little gang. I have things to do and people to see. Don't ever forget that I love you" she whispered in his ear. She gently kissed Stefan on the cheek. Then without another word, Katherine disappeared. Suddenly, Elena's phone began to ring. Jenna was on the other line. "It looks like I'm going to be stuck here with John until late tonight. There is a lot of legal stuff and it's really complicated. We won't be back in time for dinner tonight" Jenna told her. Elena hung up the phone, then told everyone what happened.

Later that night, Uncle John and Jenna returned to the Salvatore house. Elena had decided that she had better be the one to ask him about it. "Uncle J- Dad" Elena said. She hated to use this term with him. However, she had deemed it necessary. "Yes Elena. What do you need?" he asked.

"I wanted to ask you about the journals" she said simply. John looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "Do you know where the other ones are?" she asked. Tell me about Giuseppe Salvatore's journal" she said, determined.

"Why do you want to know about it?" John demanded. Elena was hesitant, but she decided to tell him about Klaus anyhow. When she was done with the story, he let out a shrill laugh.

"I can't give you the Salvatore journal even if I wanted to. That journal was lost and has never been recovered. It was the only one out of the four that I was never able to locate. I have copies of the Gilbert journal, and the Forbes, and Lockwood's journals" he said. Then he began to smile. "Maybe you can find out what happened in one of those. I can give them to you if you want" he said. Elena was very suspicious.

"Why?" she asked.

"Well Elena, I am your father. I want to help you" he said, slyly. "I'll give it to you tomorrow" he said. "I just came back to make sure that Jenna got home alright. I will be going back to my hotel now he said. Goodnight Elena". Then John left and went back to his hotel.

Matt had gotten off of work a few hours ago. He had thought of nothing except the newspaper, since he had seen it. It was still in his pocket. Matt took it out, to look at it again. Just then Matt's phone began to ring. It was his manager. He needed Matt to come down to grill right away. There was a man who had been repeatedly asking for Matt. He was very upset that he lost something valuable to him, there. He was beginning to cause a disturbance. Matt got off the phone and hurried over to the grill. Matt's manager met him at the front of the store and escorted him to the back. Michael was sitting on a chair with a security guard next to him. "Matt" he said, sounding, relieved. "I have told the manager that I left something here. It was a newspaper. It was very important to me. I need it back immediately" he stated, very concerned. Slowly, Matt pulled the paper out of his pocket. "I found it sir" he said. Michael's eyes bulged, when he saw that Matt had the paper. "You- you weren't supposed to see that. He stood up, fast. "You aren't supposed to have that!" he yelled, frantically. The security guard moved to restrain him. The man was now in tears. "It wasn't supposed to happen like that" he said quietly.

"What is it?" Matt asked. "Why do you have this picture of my sister?" he said. Michael let out a sigh.

"I suppose I have to tell you now" he said. He looked at the manager and the security guard for confirmation to leave. "I'm sorry sir" Michael said. "I will never make a scene here again" he said. Then he turned to Matt. "I need to speak to you alone" he said. Matt nodded and he walked out of the back room with Michael at his side.


	16. Chapter 16

TVD part 16

The sun had barely risen, when Tyler heard someone fiercely knocking on the door. He rolled over in bed and looked at his clock. It read 6:30 am. He couldn't believe it. Who would do this at this time of morning? Finally, Tyler could no longer stand the noise. He got out of bed and hastily put a shirt on. Tyler opened his front door, prepared to tell off whoever it was. Then he saw that Matt was standing there. "Dude do you have any idea what time it is?" Tyler asked, angrily. That was when he saw Matt's face. He was clearly very upset, and he looked like he hadn't slept in a long time. Immediately, Tyler changed his demeanor. "Come on in, man. What happened?" he asked. Matt shook his head and walked into the house. Matt and Tyler walked into the living room. "Sit down" Tyler said. He waited for Matt to start speaking. " I don't even know where to begin" Matt said.

He sighed. Then Matt began to tell Tyler all about the strange guy that he had met at work, just two days ago. He told him the whole story about the one hundred dollar bill. Then he told Tyler about the newspaper article that the man had. At this point, Tyler got really confused. "Wait, so this guy had an article about Vicki?" he asked. Matt nodded his head, in agreement. "Why did he have that?" Tyler asked. This was where the story was about to get really complicated. Matt took a deep breath and began to explain what had just happened.

Elena opened her eyes and looked groggily around the room. She sat up slowly in bed, and reached for her makeshift dresser. Elena had placed her watch there the night before. She picked something up off the dresser, without turning on the lights. Automatically, she realized that the object in her hand was not her watch . It was different. It was felt larger, yet somehow very lightweight. Elena got out of bed and walked over to turn on the light. The object in her hand was a necklace. It was not the necklace that Stefan had given to her. It was different. Elena had never seen this necklace before. Elena was very confused about the necklace. Who had left it for her? Why? She didn't know the answer to her questions. Elena admired the necklace for a few more minutes before putting it on. It was a golden locket placed upon a golden chain. It was very simple, yet very elegant. Elena put the necklace on and then went downstairs for breakfast.

It was still early. The clock in the kitchen read 7:15 am. Elena hated that her body automatically woke her up at this time, even on weekends. Damon and Stefan were both already wide awake. "Good morning Elena" Damon chimed as he saw her come down the stairs.

"Hello Damon" Elena replied, with a smile. Then she caught sight of Stefan, who was on the other side of the living room. "Hello Stefan" she said politely, and gave him a small grin. "Hello Elena. Did you sleep well?" he asked.

"Yes, I've been exhausted and I didn't wake up at all last night" she said. Then Damon began to walk towards her again. Immediately, he noticed the necklace and started toying with it. "What's this?" he asked curiously. Stefan was also paying close attention now. He walked closer to Elena, to try and examine the necklace. "I-I don't know" Elena confessed. "I found it on my dresser this morning. I don't know how it got here" she said, earnestly. Elena looked back and forth between the two brothers. Her gaze lingered on Damon for a few seconds longer. She looked at him, meaningfully. Damon merely shrugged his shoulders. It was apparent, that Damon did not know where the necklace had come from either. Stefan looked very concerned. "Elena, I think that maybe you shouldn't wear that. You don't know where it came from or who put it there. It could be dangerous" he said, seriously. Elena looked at Stefan, slightly annoyed. However, she seemed to know that he may be right. Elena was very reluctant, but she decided to take off the necklace, anyhow. Then she handed the necklace to Damon. Stefan looked shocked. He had not expected this and he was not pleased. Damon too, was surprised. "You want _me_ to hold onto it for safe keeping?" he asked, Elena, surprised. Elena nodded her head yes. "Ok fine" he agreed. That was when Stefan spoke up.

"Elena may I please speak to you in your room?" Stefan asked. Elena was taken aback by the sudden change of subject. "Uh- sure, I guess" she answered him. Elena began to walk with Stefan back to her room. Damon looked at her as she left the room, with a longing gaze as deep as the ocean itself.

Tyler was speechless. He had been sitting on the couch for the last five minutes, unable to say anything. Matt was sitting the other couch, opposite of Tyler. He began to wave his hand in front of Tyler's face. "Uh- hello Tyler. Are you there?" Matt asked. Tyler jerked his head up suddenly, and looked at Matt. "So-" Tyler began slowly. "This guy Michael he- he's- your father" he finally managed to say. Matt nodded his head yes. It was Matt who was now searching for words. He had only begun to process this information a few hours ago. Now that someone else had said the words aloud, reality finally began to settle in. The full weight of this revelation had just begun to hit to Matt.

He stood up, abruptly. Matt began to pace back and forth, placing his hands on top of his

head. Matt couldn't keep still. He kept re-arranging his arms in different positions. He was mumbling incoherently. It had been a long time since Matt had last slept. Tyler got up and walked over to his friend. He touched him on the shoulder. "Matt, it's okay. Come on. You really need your rest. You can sleep in my room or on the couch, wherever you're comfortable. I'm awake now, so I'm just gonna wait for my mom to get up and you can sleep here for a few hours" Tyler said. Matt looked as though he were about to cry. Then suddenly, he shoved Tyler. Tyler was shocked and unprepared. He nearly fell to the ground. "Calm down" Tyler said to gently to him, as if trying to soothe a small child.

"I won't calm down Tyler. I can't!" Matt yelled. "Do you have any idea what this is like? I've never even known this man. I can't remember him before he left! I was only two years old! Now he just comes into Mystic Falls all weird, and mysterious and starts acting like he's been here the whole time. Do you know what that's like Tyler? I've grown up without a father! My mother was almost never here! There were tears streaming down Matt's face now. He sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands. "I've always wanted a dad. I've always wondered what it would have been like to play in little league or go fishing with my dad like all the other boys. Then my mom was always in and out. And my sister- and- and Vicki" he stammered. Tyler was standing in front of Matt.

"Matt I'm sorry. I really am. You're right. I don't know what that was like. I had both parents always here. But you don't know what that's like either. My parents always fought. My dad had a horrible temper". Tyler sat down. "Well I never told you this before, but sometimes my dad would hit me. Matt looked up, from staring at the floor. "Yeah, sometimes he would hit me real hard, even as kid" Tyler said. Matt was shocked by the information that he had just learned. "Why didn't you tell me?" Matt asked. Tyler shook his head slowly back and forth. "I - I don't know man. I just didn't. You know what? It doesn't matter. Just please go lay down for a while, I'll talk to you when you get up" Tyler said. After a little more persuasion, Matt finally agreed.

"Thank you" Matt said. "I'll just crash on the couch for a little while" he said. Tyler nodded and went off to get Matt some sheets and a pillow. "Oh Tyler, please don't tell anyone about this yet. I'm going to have to do it" Matt said, seriously.

"Ok" Tyler, agreed. "I'll come up with some other story to tell my mom" he said. Matt laid down on the couch and within moments, he had drifted off to sleep.

"Elena, please sit down" Stefan said, pointing to the bed in his room. Elena looked rather uncomfortable and said, "Actually Stefan, I think I'll stand". Stefan tried to ignore this, and let out a deep sigh. "Elena I'm concerned about you" he said, softly.

"Yes Stefan, and why is that?" Elena asked.

"Well Elena you've really been through a lot. There is a ton of stuff that has happened to you this past year" he said. "I want to make sure that you're ok. I want to know if this is something that you want" he told her. Elena looked at him, confused.

"Seriously, Stefan you want to know if this is what I want?" she asked, incredulously. "Yes Stefan I want to be a doppelganger of a woman who was once a vampire sacrifice. I want to be always running, hiding, and making crazy schemes. I want to have to constantly worry about everyone that I love. That's right, Stefan. All of this is exactly what I want" she said sarcastically. Stefan gave Elena a stern look.

"That is not exactly what I meant" Stefan said. Elena crossed her arms, in frustration.

"Why don't you tell me exactly what it is that you mean then?" Elena asked.

Stefan hesitated for a few moments before answering. "Well- um we've been broken up for a while now and I-". Elena didn't let him finish. She knew where this was going.

"Look Stefan everything is so complicated. I don't know. I wish that things were different but-" Elena was unsure what to say next. She felt as though the guilt of her latest kiss with Damon shone on her face, as brightly as light bulb being turned on. Stefan nodded his head.

"Yeah I get it, Elena. You don't want to get back together." She could tell that he was shaken. "I just have to know one thing. Is it because of Damon that you don't want to get back together?" he asked. Elena was caught off guard. "No" she said finally, but it was too late. She had hesitated answering about two seconds longer than she should have.

"I knew it" Stefan said, clearly upset. "It always comes back to Damon." With that, he got up and left the room.

John was in his hotel room. He had unpacked some of the items from his suitcase. He was looking over the copies of all of the journals that he had in his possession. There was so much valuable information in here. He didn't want all of this information to be in the hands of vampires. Still he had promised, Elena. Besides there was a certain piece of information that the Salvatores were looking for. John wasn't about to hand it over to them. He was going to attempt to find out what it is that they are looking for first. John took his copies of the Forbes, Lockwood, and Gilbert journals and put them on the bed. Then he took another object out of his suitcase. It was worn, tattered and very old. Some of the pages were missing and some had been ripped out. John looked admiringly at the Salvatore journal, safely in his hands, as a sly smile crept over his face.

Stefan was fuming. "I'm leaving for a little while" he had told Elena after he left the room. He quickly ran downstairs and out the door. A few tears fell down Elena's cheeks. She stood in the corridor, silently for a few more moments. Then a voice called out from behind her. "Elena are you okay?" he asked. She turned to see Damon standing there.

"Yes, Damon I'll be fine" she lied. Everything in her life was a mess. Everything had been a mess since her parents had died. He walked closer to her. "I'm sorry" he said, softly. Elena looked into his blue eyes. "It's ok, Damon. You know that I've already forgiven you" she said. He took Elena and gently pulled her into a tight hug.

"I know that you have" he whispered to her. Elena and Damon held their embrace for what seemed like an eternity. This tender moment was exactly what Elena needed. It was times like this that she remembered why she went through this. It was times like this that reminded her why she just didn't take the easier road and become a vampire. She needed this. This was like water to her body and it was humanity for Damon. It was in that moment that she decided what she had most feared was true. Elena knew that not only did she need this, she needed him. She needed Damon. The confusion of life and death situations was completely gone. It was there, in this moment, that she knew that she loved him.

It had been an hour since Stefan had left. There was a knock on the door. Damon and Elena were sitting on the couch together. Damon got up to answer the door. It turned out to be Damon's least favorite person "What are you still doing here John?" Damon asked. "You already signed all of the papers. Time for you to go" Damon said. John ignored him and walked inside the house. Then he showed Elena the copies of the journals that he had. "Here you are Elena, my dear" he said, trying to be charming. Elena took the journals from him quickly. "Thank you" she said, sincerely.

"Your welcome" John said, pleasantly. "I will be needing those back at some point, after you have found what you're looking for" John said. Elena nodded to let him know that she understood. "Are you going to be leaving soon?" Elena asked.

"Yes, I will be leaving tonight. Say goodbye to Jeremy and Jenna for me" John said. Elena agreed to this. Then John gave a Elena a quick hug. "Take care" he said, as he walked out the door. Damon slammed the door shut very hard. Elena raised an eyebrow at him. "What?" he asked. "It slipped and the wind did that" he said to Elena. Elena began to laugh. "I'm starving I'm going to go get a blood bag" Damon said. Then he turned to Elena. "Want one?" he asked, jokingly. Elena smiled at him.

"I'll take some human food, thanks" she replied. Within a couple of minutes, Damon had come back with a blood bag and had made Elena a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. "Damon can you hand me some of those chips? I can't reach them. Jeremy must've have put them up on the top shelf" she said. Damon went to grab the potato chips. When he did, even he had to lean up on his tip toes a little. Damon's shirt lifted up a little as he did so. "Damon are you ok?" Elena asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. Why?" he asked.

"Well I just wanted to know how your wounds were healing" Elena explained. Damon lifted his shirt for her to see. Elena winced when she looked at the wound. "Damon that was two days ago, and it still looks fresh" she said. Damon shrugged.

"I'll be fine" he told her. Then Elena remembered something else.

"Let me see your leg" she said. Damon did as he was told. He rolled up his pants so Elena could examine his leg. "Are you happy now?" he asked, impatiently. Elena looked at him and said " Damon there's no wound here." She sounded extremely worried.

"So?" Damon asked.

"There should still be a wound. Klaus stabbed you with an ash stake" Elena said. Then Elena went as white as a ghost. "Damon" she said, slowly. "I staked Klaus with the stake that had been in your leg" she said, quietly. Damon immediately realized what it was that she was saying. "So, Klaus would have come back to life in a few hours" Damon said. He placed his hands on Elena's arms. "It's ok though, he was burned" Damon assured her. This seemed to calm Elena down. She had forgotten about that. Elena and Damon sat back down on the couch much more relieved than a few minutes ago.

It was pitch black dark. Even with his eyes open, Luka could see nothing. He was in a basement of some kind. The last thing that he could remember was being forced to perform a spell. It had been over twenty four hours since he had been kidnapped. He was supposed to have been in Milwaukee by now. Luka's Aunt was probably wondering what had happened to him. Luka's hands and feet were both bound. Luka rolled over to his left and his hand touched something familiar. He moved his hand across the book. He knew this book too well, to not know what it was. This was his father's spell book. Instantly, Luka realized what that meant. He was in the basement of his own house. Apparently, his captor liked irony. Suddenly Luka heard footsteps coming down the stairs. The lights flickered on quickly. Luka's eyes were extremely sensitive to the light, since he had been down here in the darkness for over twenty-four hours already. Luka saw that there were two men. One man began to speak. " The spell that you performed was absolutely perfect" the first man said. Then the second man spoke up. "I must remember to properly thank you for that" he said. He continued. "Oh Elijah thank you for helping me, not that you had a choice" he added. It was very evident that Elijah greatly feared the other man. "I don't need you for anything anymore though" he said. Then without any warning the man reached into Elijah's chest and pulled out his heart. Elijah's body fell to the floor. Luka heard a loud thud as the body fell next to him. Luka began to take in the scene. He was in his basement and a dead vampire lay on the floor next to him. His father's spell book lay on the other side of him. Luka knew that whoever the other vampire was, he was extremely powerful. Luka laid back down on the floor, closed his eyes, and tried not to think about what might happen next.


	17. Chapter 17

"Uh I hate school" Elena complained to Caroline as they walked down the hallway. Caroline scoffed.

"It's not like your ever here Elena" Caroline said. Elena did not respond to her. Caroline and Elena took their seats in Language Arts class. Halfway through the class, Elena looked at Caroline and she could tell immediately that something was wrong. When the bell rang, Elena walked straight over to Caroline. "What happened Caroline? I know that something is wrong" Elena said, forcefully. Caroline turned to speak to Elena. "Ok well you know Luka right? And you know what happened to his dad. He was supposed to and live with his Aunt in Milwaukee but he isn't" Caroline finished. Elena looked at her strangely. "So what does that mean?" Elena asked hesitantly.

"Well I just overheard Luka's aunt, talking to the principal and he never made it to Milwaukee. He was supposed to get on a plane but he never arrived at the airport" she explained. Elena was shocked. She had never known Luka very well but she knew what had happened to his father. Tyler had told Caroline what happened and she had relayed the message to everyone else. Now Luka was missing and she didn't understand what had happened

John smiled as he thought about how his plan had been perfectly set in motion. He knew that the inevitable phone call from Elena would be coming soon. It wouldn't take her too long to realize what had happened. John looked over at the Salvatore journal that was resting beside him. This journal contained some very valuable information that the Salvatore brothers would find most interesting.

By the time that Elena got back to the Salvatore house, she was already emotionally drained. The ride home had been very quiet. Jeremy had insisted that Elena tell him what was going on. Reluctantly, Elena had agreed. It was no use trying to keep things from him anymore. Elena walked into the house and put down her backpack. Immediately, she and Jeremy heard the yelling. They turned to look at each other. Damon entered the room, with his hands covering his ears. He pointed to the door and Elena and Jeremy followed him outside. " I've had to listen to yelling and screaming for the last hour" Damon complained. Elena looked concerned.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Your lovely aunt has been arguing with Alaric all afternoon" Damon said, angrily. "I've considered going up there and ripping her throat out. That would shut her up" Damon said, snidely. Elena gave Damon a very cold stare. He recognized this face very well. This was Elena's _that's not funny face._ "Relex Elena, I'm only joking" he said, reassuringly. Jeremy snickered under his breath. Damon could tell that he found this scenario very amusing. "I'm going back inside. I need to see if she's okay" Elena announced.

"Have fun in there" Damon said to Elena. Elena looked meaningfully at Jeremy. Jeremy shook his head.

"Sorry Elena, no way am I going in there. I'm gonna stay out here with Damon" Jeremy said.

Elena walked upstairs to Jenna's room. It was quiet inside now. Carefully, Elena knocked on the door. "Jenna are you ok?" she asked. When there was no answer, Elena slowly opened the door. Jenna was sitting on the bed, with her head in her hands, crying. Elena sat down on the bed next to her. Then Jenna placed her head on Elena's shoulder. Elena wrapped her arm around Jenna, trying to comfort her. "I broke up with him" Jenna whispered.

After a few more minutes, Elena said "What happened?" Jenna looked up at her with tear stained cheeks. "I can't do it anymore Elena. I don't know how you do this".

Jenna had gotten up now and was pacing around the room. "I've been trying to ignore it all. I've been trying to forget that I ever discovered these horrible secrets. I wanted everything to be normal. I really did. Then I think about everything that has happened. I wonder how long this has gone on. I wonder how long I've been lied to. Our whole relationship was based upon lies!" She was becoming angrier by the second. Jenna was beginning to yell again. "I told Alaric that I can't do this. I don't want to be part of some sort of _vampire _society". She spat out the word _vampire_ as though it were poison. "I don't want to know about this. I can't deal with having been lied to all of this time". Then she looked at Elena. "You know, Elena what hurts worse than any of that. The fact that you lied to me hurts the most. It is the fact that _even _you didn't tell me what was going on" Jenna said these last words, quietly. Jenna had let a few tears, escape as she said this. Elena was staring at Jenna.

The whole time that Jenna had been talking, Elena had stayed silent, just listening. Elena got off the bed, and walked closer to Jenna. Elena was now crying too. "I am so sorry Jenna. I- I" her voice, trailed off. "I love you Jenna. You know that. I was just trying to protect you" Elena said, sincerely.

"I know" Jenna admitted. "Protecting me is not your job though. I'm supposed to do that for you" she said. Then as an afterthought she said "Oh Elena, lying is never the same as protecting, just so you are aware." With that, Jenna walked out of the room and ran downstairs.

Elena ran out after Jenna when her body hit something solid. He placed his hands on her arms. "Damon, let go of me!" she yelled. "I have to make sure that Jenna is ok" she said. Damon looked at her in the eyes. "Let her go Elena. She needs some time. She's going to be ok" said. Elena stopped struggling against him. She was still very upset.

"It's all my fault. I'm so stupid. How could I have let this happen?" she cried. Damon caressed her hair gently.

"Don't say that Elena. Everything in the universe is not your fault. You're beginning to remind me of Stefan" he scoffed. Elena looked around as if noticing something for the first time.

"Where is Stefan anyhow?, she asked, suddenly.

"I think he went to the grill or something" Damon, shrugged. "I'm actually going down there in a few minutes, if you want to come" he said. Elena shook her head, no.

"I have to go see Bonnie and tell her what happened to Luka" she explained. Damon looked very confused. Elena realized that in all of the confusion, she had not explained about what happened to Luka. Damon was as confused as she was, as to what happened. Then they walked downstairs together. Elena told Jeremy where she was headed. When Damon started walking to the door as well, Jeremy said "Hey Damon where are you going?" Damon paused and then said reluctantly, "I'm going to the grill." Jeremy's face turned very hopeful. Damon turned back towards the door and was about to leave when Elena elbowed him roughly in the ribs. "Do you want to come Jeremy?" Damon, asked, mumbling, incoherently. Jeremy nodded, enthusiastically.

"Yeah, cool, sure" he said. Damon glared at Elena.

"I'm not his babysitter, you know. Just so you're aware, I will be at the bar, picking up girls" he said, jokingly. He smiled at Elena.

Elena smiled slyly back at him. "I don't think you will be" she whispered to him. Then Elena, Jeremy and Damon left the Gilbert house.

It was around 6:00 when Damon and Jeremy arrived at the grill. Damon had driven Elena over to Bonnie's house, then to the grill. There was a large crowd of people gathered around the bar. Damon pushed his way through the crowd to the front. "What's going on?" he asked a pretty blond girl next to him. She pointed over to the other end of the bar. "There are these two guys are having some major drinking contest over there. I think the one guy is about to pass out" she said, sounding excited. As Damon got closer, he could see that one of the figures was Stefan. There were empty shot glasses all over the bar, near where Stefan and the other man were sitting. Damon turned to the man next to him. "How long has this been going on?" he asked.

The man looked at his watch. "It's been over an hour now. One of them should pass out any time. Although that guy over there looks like he could still go for several more rounds" he said, pointing at Stefan. Damon thanked the man and walked straight over to Stefan.

He lightly touched him on the shoulder. Stefan looked at him with bloodshot eyes. "Wull-hullo my dear brother" Stefan said, slurring his words. "Bartender, get some vodka for my brother here!" Stefan yelled. Damon shook his head.

"No I don't want any. Stefan I think that it's time for you to get home. It's only a little after six and you're really drunk. Plus you're going to kill this guy" Damon said, pointing to the man next to Stefan.

"Since when do you care if this guy dies?" Stefan demanded. "You luv- killing people." Stefan was getting louder. "Hey everybody, you know what? He kills people. You guys know what else? He stole my girlfriend! Twice"! Now Stefan was yelling so loudly that the whole bar could hear. Everyone stared at Damon. Damon knew that he was going to have to do something quickly. Damon grabbed Stefan by the arm and tried to get him to stand up. "We have to go. Now" Damon said, sternly.

"I'm not finished" Stefan protested. Damon grabbed the shot of vodka out of his hands. Stefan put up a struggle, but since he was so intoxicated, Damon was able to drag him to the car. Jeremy made sure that Stefan was safely in the back seat. Jeremy was in the passenger's side. "Sorry that you had to witness that" Damon said to Jeremy.

"It's ok. Maybe we can hang out at the grill some other time" Jeremy said. Damon nodded but did not say anything.

It was nearly ten o'clock when Bonnie dropped Elena off at the Salvatore house. She saw Stefan, asleep on the couch when she entered. "What happened?" she asked. When she got closer to Stefan though, she did not need much of an answer. He wreaked from the smell of alcohol. "Oh my gosh Damon, how much did he drink?" she asked, nervously.

"He drank way too much vodka. He is going to have one heck of a hangover when he wakes up tomorrow" he said.

Elena was very concerned. "I can't believe this" Elena said.

"Yeah well you had better believe it. Oh did I forget to mention that Stefan told everyone at the grill that I kill people and that I stole his girlfriend, twice?" Damon said, nonchalantly. Elena now looked even more panicked than she had before. "That's horrible. What are we going to do?" she asked.

"We aren't going to do anything" he answered. "I don't think that anyone took him very seriously considering the state that he was in" Damon said. Elena seemed to be a little bit relieved by this information. "So where is Aunt Jenna?" she asked Damon.

"She's in her room. She went to bed early" Damon explained.

"I think I'm going to go to bed now too" Elena said. "We'll have to deal with everything tomorrow" Elena said. Damon walked over to her.

"Goodnight Elena" he said, as he kissed her on the forehead.

The next morning came way too soon for Elena. There were just too many things to be done. She came downstairs and saw that Stefan was still fast asleep. "When do you think he's going to wake up?" Elena asked Damon.

"I don't know in a few hours. Relax, he'll be fine. He's just going to have a major headache" Damon said.

It was now Saturday and Elena decided that she should do something productive. There was never a dull moment around here. There was always some sort of danger or mystery. "I'm going to go look at the journals" she told Damon. Damon was lounging in an armchair in the living room. He placed his hands behind his head and was relaxing. "You go right ahead and do that. Have fun" he teased. Elena grinned slightly and went back up to her room to acquire the journals. She came back with three journals. She threw one of the books at Damon, narrowly missing his head.

"Hey watch where you throw that thing. You could hurt somebody" Damon said, smiling. Then he looked down at the journal in his lap. "Ah, the Lockwood journal, this could be semi interesting" he said.

"Good I'm glad that you find that interesting because you are looking for a secret about you in there" Elena said.

"Really, Elena this secret thing sucks. Maybe I don't want to know what it is" Damon said, snidely.

"Well, maybe you don't, but I would like to know. It could be important" Elena said, convinced that she may be right. Elena looked thoroughly through the Forbes' journal with no luck at all. Damon was doing the same thing with the Lockwood journal. "Did you find anything?" Elena asked Damon.

"No, I didn't find anything. There's just a lot of stuff in here about wolves. There isn't really anything that we don't already know" Damon said. Then he tossed the book across the floor. Damon walked over and sat down next to Elena, at her feet. "I'm bored" he whined. "I want to do something fun" he said, playfully to Elena. Elena laughed and smiled at him.

"Come on Damon. We really should do this" she said, seriously. Damon stood up abruptly and put his face right in front of hers. "We are always doing- this. How about we do something else for once?" Damon asked, slyly. Without any further conversation, Damon picked up Elena and started swinging her around in the air. "Damon –" she laughed. "Come on, put me down" she said, playfully. He did not hesitate. He placed Elena on the ground and then said "May I have this dance?"

"There isn't any music" Elena protested.

"That is the beauty of it Elena. There doesn't have to be" Damon said. Damon placed one hand around her waist and they started dancing. "Do you know how to Waltz Miss Gilbert?" he asked.

"I do, Mr. Salvatore" she responded. Then Damon and Elena began to dance one of the most beautiful dances of all time. They spun around the living room, all the while never taking their eyes off of one another. The dance seemed to last for an eternity. Elena never even noticed the time. Finally, they stopped. Elena looked at the clock. She was surprised to find that they had danced for nearly a half hour. It barely even felt like a minute to her. Then she heard a loud groan from near the couch.

Stefan was stirring. He was finally waking up. He sat up a little and opened his eyes. Immediately, he placed a hand on his head. "What happened?" he asked, groggily.

"You had a little bit too much to drink last night" Damon said. Stefan looked very confused.

He blinked and then said "I don't really remember much. Do you know what happened?" he asked Damon.

"I came to the grill around six. Apparently you were having some kind of drinking game with a man at the bar. I think you won, by the way. The other guy was nearly passed out when I got there" he explained.

"Oh man I don't feel very well" Stefan said. He let out a harsh laugh. He looked directly at Elena. The pain in his eyes was quite obvious. "You know, I think I'm going to go up to my room. Thanks for bringing me home last night Damon" Stefan said.

"No problem, little bro, take all the time you need" Damon said. Stefan walked straight past Elena without saying a word to her. Elena was once again on the verge of tears. " I feel so horrible about Stefan" Elena said.

"Don't worry about that Elena. He'll get over it eventually" Damon said.

"Well that's just it Damon. I don't think he will" Elena said, sounding sad. Then she decided to get back to work on the journals. She read through the Gilbert three times. It was only on the third time that she caught it. There was miniscule writing on one of the pages. It was on the side and very easy to miss. This is what it read: _I am honored that Giuseppe has trusted me with this information. However, I cannot only keep it to myself. Giuseppe is not actually the perfect gentleman that he pretends to be. He has a secret that he only has entrusted to me. Giuseppe told me that it all started with one woman. She was very beautiful. She was a tall slender blond with blue eyes. Giuseppe said that he was attracted to her immediately. There was something between them. There was an electricity that he could not explain. I myself, have never come close to experiencing this. Even with Miss Pearl, I have never felt emotions such as those that Giuseppe described to me. There was however a problem- _The words were cut off after this. There seemed to be pages missing. Elena didn't know why she hadn't noticed this before.

"Damon?" she said hesitantly. "What did your mother look like?" Elena asked, suddenly. Damon was taken aback by this question. He began to speak but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Damon opened the door. There was nobody there. Then he looked down. Damon let out an audible gasp. There on the doorstep was Elijah's bloody body. Around his finger there was a note. Damon picked it and read it. _Next time use ash_ was all that it said. When Damon had unfolded the note, something had fallen out of it. Damon leaned down and picked it up. It was a ring that he had seen before. This ring belonged to Alaric. Damon heard Elena calling from the living room. "Damon what's wrong? What happened?" she asked, sounding frantic. It took Damon a few more moments to respond. "Elena sit down. I think we need to talk."


	18. Chapter 18

The day started out to be very nice. Elena realized that this probably would not last. Nothing in her life ever seemed to be constant. The only thing that ever remained constant was the danger. Elena was determined to make the best out of today. Today was Valentine's Day.

Elena walked downstairs and saw Jeremy sitting in the kitchen, talking on the phone and smiling. "Yeah ok, that's sounds good. I'll see you tonight then" he said playfully. He hesitated, listening to the person on the other line. "Well you'll just have to wait and see" he teased. He let out a loud laugh. "I'll see you around eight then. Well bye" he sighed. Suddenly he looked at Elena, seeming to notice for the first time. "Hey Elena what's up?" he asked.

"Uh- not much is going on with me" Elena confessed. "What's going on with you?" she asked. Jeremy blushed. "Nothing is going on Elena. Why- why do you ask?" he said embarrassed.

"It's ok Jeremy. You don't have to lie to me. I know about Bonnie" she said. Jeremy hesitated before saying anything else. "So- you're ok with that?" Jeremy asked, hesitantly. Elena nodded her head. "I really wasn't at first. "Now, I have accepted it and I feel ok with it" she said. Jeremy looked as though he did not quite believe what Elena was saying.

He had gotten used to the darkness by now. Luka's eyes had now readjusted to be able to see better in the dark. The door creaked open. Luka tried to sit up from lying on the floor. Suddenly, the lights flashed on . The light hurt his eyes so badly. He had been down here for days. He was so hungry and so thirsty. Klaus only allowed him to eat and go out to the bathroom once a day. It must be time for his daily meal. Luka knew he needed to escape, the question was how.

Damon was lounging on the couch in the living room. Elena sat down next to him. "You know, Valentine's day is today" she said, gently.

"Well hello to you too" Damon teased her. "I don't do Valentine's Day. It's a waste of my precious time and money" he said, scathingly.

"Fine be like that" Elena said. "Nobody wants you to get them anything anyhow. I'm going to go and see Stefan" Elena announced. She got up from the couch and started to walk away. With one smooth move Damon had grabbed Elena's wrist and had pulled her back toward himself. "Don't do that" he warned. "You know Elena, you're more like Katherine than you give yourself credit for". He smiled at her. Elena slyly smiled back.

"Is it so wrong for a girl to want presents on Valentine's Day?" she asked, innocently.

"Yes it is" Damon responded. "You do realize that Valentine's Day is based on a bloody massacre right?" he asked. Elena nodded her head. Then she stiffened up a little.

"You know that there is something that I need to ask you. It has been postponed for a while because of what happened with Elijah" Elena explained.

"What exactly is that?" Damon asked.

"I still need to find out about your mother" Elena told him.

"Why do you want to know about her? This whole thing is pointless. It doesn't even matter what Klaus says" Damon said, defiantly. Elena looked at him pleadingly. "Why do you want to know?" he asked, suspiciously. Elena turned and looked deep in the sea of Damon's blue eyes. She took a deep breath and then started talking. "Well in Johnathon Gilbert's journal he talks about a woman that your father was in love with. It is just that it sounded as though it may not have been the most legitimate of relationships. Please Damon just tell me a little bit about her" Elena said.

"Fine, but I don't know much. She died while giving birth to Stefan. I was only five. I don't remember her Elena, Is that what you want to hear?" he asked, angrily. Elena realized that this was a very sore subject with Damon. He did not want to talk about it under any circumstances. Damon had gotten up off of the couch and walked over to the table where he kept the alcohol. He was in the process of pouring himself a glass of Scotch when Elena touched his shoulder. He spun around very quickly.

"Damon are you ok?" Elena asked. She looked at Damon and saw that one of his eyes was nearly wet. "Are you crying?" Elena asked, quietly. Damon ignored her.

"Why don't you just leave me alone Elena? Go and find someone to give you a Valentine" he said, haughtily. With that he walked out the front door. Elena was left standing in the Salvatore living room all alone.

Elena stood there for several minutes, not knowing what to make of this situation. Finally, Elena started walking back in the direction of her room when she ran into Stefan. "What's wrong Elena?" he asked. Elena shook her head, still disconcerted. "It's Damon- he's upset" Elena said.

"Well I don't know if I've told you about the Gilbert journal yet. The last couple of days have kind of been a whirlwind" Elena said. She was trying to decide how to delicately phrase the next sentence. "While you were incapacitated, the other day I discovered something in Johnathon Gilbert's journal. He was keeping a secret for your father. He was talking about some beautiful woman that your father was in love with" Elena said, as delicately as she could. Stefan seemed taken aback. He had not been expecting this information.

"What did you ask Damon?" Stefan said.

"I asked him about his mother, well I mean your mother" Elena corrected herself, quickly. She could tell by the look on Stefan's face that she had once again struck a chord. "Oh- Elena you should not have done that. Damon is very sensitive when it comes to talking about our mother. He blames me for that too" Stefan said. Then he changed subjects. Tell me about this woman. What did the journal say about her?" he asked. Instead of answering, Elena walked over to where the journal was at and handed it to Stefan. She opened it up to the page with all of the tiny handwriting on it. It only took Stefan a matter of seconds to read through it.

He looked up from where he was sitting. "I never knew anything about this" Stefan told Elena. "This woman that he is talking about is not our mother. I know where there is a picture of her. She has brown hair and green eyes. I look a lot like her. I suppose Damon resents me for that too" Stefan sighed. Stefan got up and went upstairs into Damon's room. He had seen the picture once in here, though Damon did not know it. He hoped that it was still in the same place. Stefan moved Damon's dresser and started digging at the floorboard underneath it. When he had removed it, Stefan saw that there was something else there, along with the picture. It was the necklace that Elena had found the other day. He had forgotten about it until now. The picture was laying facedown. Carefully, he turned it over and showed it to Elena.

Elena took the picture carefully in her hands, careful to only touch the edges. There was a little boy about three years old, sitting his mother's lap. He was hugging her so tightly, not wanting to let go. He had short dark brown hair and beautiful electric blue eyes. There was a smile on Damon's face that Elena had never seen before. He was so little and looked so peaceful. Damon's mother was gently kissing his head. It was really a beautiful picture. Elena began to tear up a little. "Wow he's so cute. He just seems so happy. I wish he could be that happy again" Elena said. Stefan sighed. "Yeah he was happy before I was born. He's always hated me."

"Stefan you know that is not true. Damon loves you. He is just not good at showing it. He has so many issues and he just doesn't deal with them very well" Elena said.

"He loves you too" Stefan said, under his breath. Elena looked at him, but did not respond.

Suddenly, Stefan heard the front door swing open very violently. Quickly he put the picture back underneath the floorboard and moved the dresser back. Damon was calling for Stefan and Elena to come downstairs. There was something about the way that Damon spoke, that made Stefan very fearful. Stefan and Elena rushed downstairs.

"What's wrong? What's going on Damon?" Elena looked at Damon's face. He was very pale. Damon swallowed and took a deep breath. "There's been a shooting at the grill. Three people are dead" Damon announced.

Elena's face became so white that she looked faint. "What happened? Who died? Who shot them?" Elena asked, frantically. Damon walked closer to Elena.

"I think that you should sit down first" Damon said. Elena was incapable of rational thought at the moment. "Please tell me what happened Damon" she pleaded. Damon looked at her, with his eyes darting back and forth across her face. "Three people died and one was taken to the hospital" he said.

"Who was shot?" she asked, scared. Damon slowly shook his head. "Matt was shot. He's in the hospital. I was on my way over to the grill when I got the phone call from Liz." Elena was in total shock. Elena's brain had not yet properly processed the information that Damon had just relayed to her.

"So what happened? Is he ok?" she asked, quickly. Damon placed one of his hands on top of her shoulder. "The doctors said that Matt is probably going to be fine but he needs a blood transfusion. He apparently has a rare blood type" Damon said, as gently as he could. Elena's eyes bulged and she began to cry. "We have to leave. We have to get to the hospital right now" Elena said, urgently. Then something else occurred to Elena. "Who was the shooter Damon?" Damon took a deep breath. Then he said, "It was Luka."

Elena was shocked. "Why would Luka do something like that?" she asked.

"He must have been compelled, I guess" Damon said. "We still don't know where he has been at for the last several days. Liz Forbes told me that he escaped by using that lovely brain aneursysm trick" he told her. Elena had no time to process this. They all got in the car and were at the hospital within five minutes.

Elena rushed to the nurses'station to ask about Matt. She found out what room he was in but they would not allow her to go in. It was then that she saw Sheriff Forbes coming around the corner with Caroline. Caroline's eyes were bright red. Elena walked over and the two girls hugged one another. Then Caroline turned to Liz Forbes. "What's going on? Is he going to be ok? What kind of blood does he need?" she asked, in rapid succession. Liz answered all of her questions. Feeling helpless, Elena realized that her blood type did not match his. She had found out after the car accident what blood type she was. Liz explained that Matt's mother had been informed of the situation and she was catching a flight as soon as possible from California. "Well what are we going to do?" Elena found herself yelling. Matt needs blood."

Elena turned to Stefan and Damon. "Can't one of you guys give him blood?" she asked. Stefan said "I don't think that is a good idea. You remember what happened with Caroline. I think its should be only as a last resort" he said. Then Damon walked over to Sheriff Forbes and took her aside, far from the hearing distance of anyone else. "Liz tell me the truth. Do you think he's going to make it? Damon asked, concerned.

"I have to tell you Damon, it's not looking good. If Matt doesn't get that transfusion soon, he is probably going to die" Liz informed, him. Damon's face looked grim.

"How much time are we talking? What did the doctor say?" Damon asked.

"Another two or three hours, that's all Damon. We have to find a match and quickly" Sheriff Forbes said.

No one in the waiting room noticed as a man with dark blond hair entered and walked straight up to the nurses' station. He talked to them and within a few minutes, they had taken him into a back room.

The next hour passed in nearly total silence. Finally, Liz Forbes came out with and update. "Ok everyone, good news. A match has been found for Matt." Everyone stood up immediately. Several other people had shown up since Elena had arrived with Stefan and Damon. Bonnie, Jeremy, Jenna and Tyler were among those in the waiting room. "Look you all can go home now. Matt can't have any visitors right now anyhow. He is going to be ok" she said.

Elena walked over to Liz. "Well how? Who was a match for him?" she asked. Liz shook her head. "You know I have no idea Elena. The doctor was not allowed to tell me who it was. I'm not even sure if Matt knows who gave him the blood" she explained. Everyone else went home except for Elena, Caroline, Damon, Stefan and Caroline's mom. After another thirty minutes of waiting around, Liz told them that one person could go in and see Matt. However, he had specifically asked for Caroline.

Caroline was all too eager, to go in and see Matt. He hugged him and kissed him. She was so happy to see that he was ok. "So how are you Care?" he asked, when he saw her.

"I'm fine Matt. Are you ok?" she asked, very concerned. Matt nodded his head.

"Yeah it's just a little bullet in my abdomen. It's no big deal right?" He laughed. Caroline tried to chuckle a little, but it came out very fake. "So Matt do you know who was a match for you? Did the doctors let you know?" she asked. Matt had not been expecting this question. She could tell that he knew the answer to this question. Caroline waited patiently for an answer. He realized that he had no choice but to tell the story.

"His _what_? Elena yelled, when Caroline told her the story. She hadn't meant to be that loud. Several people in the waiting room turned around and stared at her. "So Matt's long lost father just randomly showed up in town?" Stefan asked. Caroline nodded her head. "That seems to be a recurring theme here" Damon said, under his breath. Elena gave him a warning glance. It was too late though, Caroline had already heard. Elena looked at her. "I'll explain later", she said sounding, exasperated.

"Well I'm going to head back home. Anyone who wants to come with me can" Damon announced. Stefan and Elena seemed to agree with this statement. Damon then turned to Caroline. "What about you?" he asked.

"Oh I'm fine, I'm going to wait with Matt until his mom gets here" she said. Damon nodded his head in acknowledgment.

"Did you get it?" he asked the man, who had just walked into the house.

"Yes, I have it. What is the power that this thing has anyhow?" he asked Klaus. Klaus smiled, evilly. "That is not something that you are allowed to know right now" he said, tauntingly. "How did you find it? Did Luka cause a good enough distraction?" Klaus asked.

"Yes, he did" the man answered. "I'm not working for you because I want to. You will regret this in the end" he said, boldly. Klaus laughed loudly for what seemed like an eternity.

"I knew that she would give it to the girl. It was only a matter of time before she gave away its whereabouts. You did not answer my other question. Where did you find it?" he asked.

"Damon told me about it a few days ago. I know Damon pretty well now. It was not too difficult to find his hiding spot" he answered Klaus. Klaus seemed very pleased. "That will come in handy later on. And you have no choice but to help me. I will kill her and make you watch. Then I will kill you" Klaus said, rather calmly.

"You will die, eventually. I will make sure of that" the man said. Klaus began to laugh again. Then Klaus took the man, and punched him in the face. He threw him down the stairs, into the basement. He landed with a thud, right near where Luka was lying. Luka seemed surprised to see who his new prison mate was. "Hello, I guess I don't have to tell you that I won't be coming back to school for a while" he said.

Damon, Stefan and Elena entered the Salvatore house. Elena told them both that she was going up to bed. Elena closed the door to her bedroom. It was then that she noticed what was on her bed. There was a teddy bear, holding a package on the bed. The paper was covered with tiny hearts. Elena opened up the package. It was the picture of her and Jeremy with their parents. It was the picture that Damon had saved from the fire. It had been placed in a brand new frame. The silver frame was engraved with the name _The Gilbert Family_ at the bottom. Then Elena saw a very small piece of paper near the bear. It was a note. It said: _Told you I don't do Valentine's Day- D. _ Elena looked around and realized that she would never be able to forget everything that had happened that day.


	19. Chapter 19

TVD part 19

He smiled deviously, as the sound of the phone ringing, hit his ears. He did not even have to look at it to know who was. "Hello Elena" he said. He listened for a moment, not saying anything. "Yes well I will come over as soon as possible. I'm just not sure that I will be much help Elena, but I will be there soon" he said. With that he hung up the phone. Instinctively, his eyes wandered over to book wrapped in cloth that was lying on the bed. He walked over, picked it up and began to walk out to his car.

Elena hung up the phone on the other end. "There are you happy now?" she asked Stefan. Then without waiting for a reply, she added "He'll probably be here in fifteen minutes." Elena crossed to the other side of the room, placing her hand on the doorknob. "You know, Damon's going to be really angry" she said. "Elena, I have to find out what is going on with that mysterious blond woman. This is something that I have to know" Stefan said, seriously. Elena nodded her head in agreement, then left the room

She walked downstairs and nearly ran straight into Damon. "Whoa where are you going so fast?" he asked. Elena looked up at him. She was already feeling guilty for going behind his back. "I just want to go outside for a few minutes" she lied. The truth was that she needed a distraction. She really needed Damon to leave before Uncle John arrived at the house. Then she had an idea. "Would you like to go on a walk with me for a while?" she asked. Damon stared at her in disbelief. He knew that there was something very strange about the way that she was acting. Damon pulled her closer to him and looked her straight in the eyes. "What's wrong Elena? I can tell something is bothering you. Don't even try lying to me about it" he warned. Elena felt as though the air was suddenly escaping her lungs. How did he always know when she was lying? Elena took a deep breath. "John is coming over. He- he's helping Stefan with something" Elena said. Damon furrowed his brows, his eyes bulging. He was not happy to hear about this development.

"Why is he coming here and what exactly is the _something_ that he is helping Stefan with?" he asked. Damon's face was within inches of hers. Again, Elena began to feel just a tad bit lightheaded. She began to move away from him a little. Just then there was a knock on the door. Stefan came racing out of nowhere to answer it. "Why hello Stefan, may I come in?" John asked pleasantly. Stefan moved aside, motioning for John to come inside. Damon took one look over at John. He was positively fuming. Damon walked up the stairs, abruptly slamming the door to his room.

"Well?" Klaus asked impatiently. "Have you done it yet?" he asked Luka. Luka looked up at the vampire who stood above him. Slowly, Luka shook his head back and forth. "I-I can't do it" he said. Luka found that he could barely get the words out of his mouth. His throat was so dry, he could barely talk. "I'm not going to be able to do this. I'm not strong enough right now. The spell on this necklace is very strong. I cannot even figure out what kind of spell this is. I'm going to need help." Klaus stepped closer to Luka and slapped him across the face.

"You have two days to get this done. After that I will kill you slowly" Klaus whispered. Then he turned to Alaric. "I've been more than generous with you. If he does not succeed, you will also die" he said. With that Klaus left Luka and Alaric down in the basement.

"Well I can see that Damon is very happy to see me as usual" John said, sneeringly. Then he turned to Stefan. "So what do you need?" he asked, Stefan. Stefan stroked his chin, absentmindedly. "We know that you have our father's journal" Stefan said, calmly.

"What makes you think that I would possess the Salvatore journal?" John asked innocently. Stefan stepped closer to him. "Well you know John, you have an awful lot of information. You have all the other journals, there's no reason for me to think that you don't have this one too." John began to walk away from Stefan, toward the fireplace and around the Salvatore living room. Suddenly, John's eyes fell on something that lay on the mantle, behind a glass. John picked up the object and turned it over in his hand. "So what happened to Alaric? You have his ring. Well, actually it's my ring" John said. Stefan had forgotten that he had left that there last night. John took the ring and placed it in his pocket. "Truthfully, John I don't know where Alaric is.

"You know Stefan, I will be willing to help you out for a price. You will allow me to keep this ring. I will give you information about your father" John said. Slowly, John reached into his coat and took out something wrapped in a white cloth. Stefan watched as John unwrapped the Salvatore journal. "Here it is Stefan. Why don't you come and get it?" John teased. With that John took the journal and held it over the fire. Stefan and Elena were both in shock. Stefan just stood there, not knowing what to do. "If you don't do anything foolish, such as, trying to get this ring back, I will hand over the journal. And if you don't… well I think you know what happens" John said.

Stefan was trying to remain calm." You know that I cannot do that John. That ring belongs to Alaric and I intend to give it back to him" Stefan said. Stefan made a move and walked closer to John. John brought the journal closer to the fire. He began to burn the fringes of the journal. "Stop it!" Elena screamed. John took the book out of the fire. Suddenly, Damon came rushing down the stairs.

"Sounds like I'm missing all the fun out here" he said. With that, he rushed John grabbing him from behind and throwing him to the floor. The journal dropped to the ground with a thud, just mere inches from the fire. Damon picked John up from the floor. He walked over to the door with him. "This is the front door John. Say hello to it" Damon said. Then he took John and physically threw him out of the house. Damon turned and wiped his hands, as if he had just taken out the trash.

"Nice going, Damon now John left with Alaric's ring" Stefan said, sarcastically. Damon smiled at him slyly. He pulled the ring out of his pocket. "You mean this?" he asked. Not much surprised Stefan about Damon, anymore. However, he had not expected Damon's little pickpocket trick. Damon tossed the ring to Stefan. "Oh by the way, I have something interesting to tell you if you want to hear it" he said, as he sat down on the couch.

"What is it?" Elena asked, anxiously.

"The necklace is gone" Damon told them.

Before she knew what was happening, Bonnie began to sweat. Bonnie was shaking and cold. Suddenly she was pulled from her reality and into another one. She was someplace dark and damp. She didn't like it. She was shaking and scared. Then a small light came on. It was just enough that she could see a few steps in front of her. It was then that she heard a voice calling out to her. It was very faint and hoarse. "Bonnie" he called out. "Please" he coughed. "Please help me" the voice called out. Bonnie barely recognized the voice.

"Luka?" she called out. "Is that you?" she asked the surrounding darkness. A few moments passed before she heard anything else. "Yes, I'm here. Alaric is here too" he said.

"Where is here?" Bonnie asked. Luka hesitated again.

"He's coming. I can't talk anymore. Please hurry" Luka pleaded. Bonnie was beginning to become frantic. "Where are you? Who is coming?" she asked, panicked.

"It's Klaus" he managed to say. He's here. I-I have to go Bonnie. We're at m-" he said. Suddenly Bonnie heard a piercing sound, "No!" Luka screamed. Bonnie awoke from her trance and was shaking more than ever. Then she ran out to her car and drove straight to the Salvatore house.

There was a frantic knocking on the door. "I thought that I told you to stay away" Damon called out as he opened the front door. "I thought that I threw you out", he stopped in mid-sentence. "What happened little witch?" he asked, when he saw Bonnie standing there. Bonnie was very distraught. She shook her head and pushed past Damon into the house. "Elena" she called out. "Elena come here right now!" she yelled. Quickly Elena came downstairs. She saw the look on Bonnie's face and she rushed over and hugged her. "What's wrong? What happened?" Elena asked, concerned. The two girls sat down on the couch. Bonnie explained everything that had happened. Elena stared at her, open mouthed. "Well we have to save them. We have to go now" Elena said, sternly.

Elena rushed over to the door. Stefan stood there, blocking her way. "We can't just go and save them Elena. Bonnie doesn't even know where they are. We have to find out where they are. Then we have to make some kind of plan to save them. We can't just go rushing in or a lot of people are going to die" he said, forcefully. Elena shrugged her shoulders. She realized that this was true. She sat down on the couch and turned towards Bonnie. "I'm going to have to try and find out exactly where Luka is" Bonnie said. "I am going to have to concentrate" she told them. Bonnie got off of the couch and moved closer to the fireplace. "I'm going to try and channel more power from the fire" she told everyone. They all agreed and let Bonnie focus on the task at hand.

Stefan was pacing back and forth across the Salvatore living room. He turned to Damon, looking at him angrily. "How could you have let this happen?" Stefan yelled at Damon. Damon looked at Stefan, smirking widely. "Well let's see, I said hey Klaus would you like to have a mysterious possibly worthless piece of jewelery? You know Klaus and I are tight like that" Damon said, sarcastically. Stefan folded his arms over his chest and frowned. No, that's not funny. We don't know what the necklace does" Stefan said, sternly. "It is obvious that whoever left it for Elena had some purpose for it" he said.

"Yeah ok well, you all have fun waiting to for this location and talking about some stupid necklace. I'm going up to my room to take a nice long shower" Damon announced. "Call me when we know where this Luka kid is, even though he's useless. We might as well, just let Klaus have him" he said. Elena looked up at Damon.

"Klaus has Alaric captive as well, you know. Do you just want to leave him too?" Elena asked. The expression on Damon's face changed slightly. Elena thought that she saw an ounce of concern. "Like I care, I can find another vampire hunter, they come a dime a dozen you know" he said, coldly. Elena decided not to push the issue. Then Damon went upstairs to his room.

Elena resigned herself, to the couch as she waited to hear what Bonnie had figured out. Elena took the Salvatore journal from where Stefan had placed it. She opened up the journal and began skimming through the first pages. Finally Elena read some words that stood out to her. _November 17__th__ 1841- Father insists that I go through with this treacherous marriage. Francesca is a fine woman but I do not love her. Alas, I suppose that I could learn to love her as father loves mother. This is all for the sacred matter of keeping within our social circle. She is very pretty and she is a nice girl after all. I cannot believe that I am even considering this. Well I best think it over now._ Elena skipped ahead a few pages.

_January 5__th__- The wedding was today. My father rushed everything to be done as soon as possible. I really do not want to go through with this. However, I have no choice, I must not disappoint my family. Who would have thought that today, of all days that I would meet her. She was stunning. She was charming. She had the most electric blue eyes I have ever seen. It was as if the ocean had swallowed me whole. I cannot let Francesca find out what I feel for this girl. _Elena looked up from the journal briefly. She looked over at Bonnie. Apparently, she was still not having any luck locating Luka and Alaric. Elena turned the pages and read further.

_March12th- What have I done? I cannot believe that I gave into my foolish temptations. Who is to say what is more foolish. Being married to a woman that you do not love or cheating on her with one that you do? Sera, she told me that it was the nickname her family had given her. It was short for Seraphina, as in angel. An angel is what she was to me. _

_July 28__th__- I really do not know what do now. I will disgrace Francesca and my entire family. Sera came to me today and told me that she is pregnant. Francesca has wanted children for many years. Francesca has not been able to get pregnant yet. I have no idea what I am going to do. _Elena skipped ahead to the time of when the baby was born.

_April 24__th __1842- It was the day that the baby arrived. I was with Sera as she delivered the child. It was a beautiful baby boy with brown hair and blue eyes. He was the most gorgeous thing that I had ever seen apart from his mother. I finally had a son to carry on the family name. About one week had passed since our son, Damon had been born. This was the last time that I ever saw Sera. I noticed that she had not been herself since the child had been born. She looked at me differently. She did not want anything to do with the baby. That night she left me a note and a necklace. It was a necklace with a golden chain that looked like a locket The note read: __I cannot stay here with this child. I have seen his future and he will grow up to be a demon. He has been cursed from this day forward. I cannot love him. Therefore, he will not be capable of love. Once he learns the secret he will understand. I am so sorry but I cannot stay. Please take this necklace and keep it safe. It is very valuable._

_Love Sera_

Elena gasped out loud after she had read this. This meant that Giuseppe Salvatore had been on possession of this very necklace. The question that resounded in Elena's mind was why? Elena noticed that Giuseppe barely wrote anything in his journal for the next few years.

_January 11__th__ 1847- We have been married for six years now. The marriage has steadily declined. It was this day that Francesca announced that she had finally gotten pregnant. Her dream had finally come true._

_September 19__th__- Our baby boy has been born. Francesca had insisted that we name him Stefan. Unfortunately Francesca's joy only lasted for 24 hours. Some complications had arisen from his birth. Francesca fell very ill. There was nothing that the doctors could do. She died that night. It was so hard on Damon. He just did not understand why his mother had died._

_December 10__th__ Everyday I think about Damon and Stefan. Every time that I look at Damon's face, I think of Sera. I am so racked with guilt about what I have done to Francesca. At the same time, I could never forget Sera. She had been my one true love. Yes I had grown to love Francesca. I was even very happy with her at times. It was just that it was never the same. Sera had understood me on a level that Francesca never could have. There was this energy between us. There was this electricity that I have never felt before. _

_January 23__rd__ 1848- Every time I look at him I see things I've done wrong. So many things I've done wrong. I just cannot deal with my guilt. Damon will never be able to carry on our family name. He is illegitimate. He is the living breathing reminder of my past sins. What about that prophecy that Sera made? Who was she? What had she done? Oh what have I done?_

It was there that Elena stopped reading. Suddenly, Bonnie made a strange sound. "Elena" she said forecefully. "I know where they are. They are at Luka's house" she said, confidentally. Elena nodded. Elena got up from the couch and ran into Stefan. "Bonnie found them" she said, half absentmindedly. "What did you read?" he asked, eagerly. Without hesitation Elena handed him the journal. "You just have to read this. There is something else I have to tell you too. It's about the necklace" she said. I have something that I have to tell you about Damon. Then she whispered as quietly as she could "Damon's mother was a witch". They were so preoccupied that nobody heard the back door close behind them and the sullen vampire slip out without a word.


	20. Chapter 20

_Man I need a drink_ Damon thought to himself as he drove toward Luka's house. _It would also be a good idea if I had some sort of plan. Oh well_ he thought to himself, as he approached the door. _No one ever loved me anyhow, so I guess it doesn't matter._

"Damon" Elena called throughout the Salvatore house. There was no response. "Stefan, he's gone" Elena said, frantically. "He must have heard us" she cried. Stefan grabbed her by the shoulders. "We will find him. He must have already headed out to Luka's house. We have to go now" he said, sternly, turning toward Bonnie. Elena, Bonnie, and Stefan ran outside and jumped in his car. Halfway to Luka's house, Bonnie asked a very obvious question. "Do we have anything to kill Klaus with?" Stefan hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Not much" he replied, honestly. Bonnie nodded her head and swallowed.

"That's what I thought" she said. Within a couple of minutes, they had arrived at Luka's house.

Damon looked for an opening to get into the basement. It was now dark outside. Finally, he found a latch on the ground that covered a small door. It was a storm cellar. Damon quietly opened the door and lowered himself to the ground. Damon's feet had barely touched the ground, when he heard sounds and the smell of blood hit him. Then as quickly as he had gotten inside, Damon fell unconscious. It would be a few hours before he would awake again.

Stefan, Elena and Bonnie approached the little house. They were a few steps away when Bonnie realized what about to happen. She sensed the presence of a very strong warlock. She knew what was coming but she was too late. She did not have enough time to warn anyone of what was going to happen. All too soon, she was overcome by darkness. The next thing that she remembered was waking up in a dark basement.

Elena rubbed her forehead. _Oh it hurts so badly. Why does it hurt so badly? Did I fall and hit myself? Where am I? It's so dark. What is going on? _Elena turned over and her hand touched something warm. "Damon is that you?" she asked, aloud. She felt the person next to her move slightly.

"I'm here Elena. Where is everyone else?" he asked. Damon heard more movement near him. "I'm over here" Stefan said. "Bonnie is next to me" he added. Bonnie was cold. She was shaking. "I'm ok" her voice called out. Then suddenly, without the slightest warning, a bright light came on.

Everybody groaned at the same time. The most feared vampire ever, walked down the stairs toward them. "Good evening. How are all of you tonight?" Klaus asked, smiling deviously. Elena felt something on her. She looked down and saw the stolen necklace wrapped around her neck. She placed her hand over the locket. "How did this get here?" she asked. Everyone was awake and looking around the room. Stefan and Damon both realized that something was wrong as well. They looked down at their hands and noticed that their rings were both missing. "You'll all notice that some things are missing while another was given. You will also notice that you are all bound to the spots that you are in" Klaus said, slyly. Damon and Stefan both tried to move. It was no use.

"Now if you ever want to see these rings again, we are going to play a little game" Klaus said. Everyone was silent. Klaus walked over to Elena. "Don't you dare touch her!" Damon sneered. Klaus smiled, and totally ignored Damon. Klaus ran his hand over Elena's cheek, all the way down to her necklace. Elena tried to pull her head back a little from his hand. "There is a forested area behind this house. It spans a width of three miles. It is now nearly 12:30 am. You have until sun up to find the rings. If you do not find the rings, well the windows will be opened. The doors are opened and your two vampire boyfriends are thrown out into the sun to turn to ash" Klaus announced, brightly.

Stefan gritted his teeth. "Don't listen to him Elena. He probably has the rings right there in his pocket. He's just trying to mess with your head" Stefan told her. Elena did not say anything. "You didn't answer my question" she said bluntly to Klaus. She was trying to appear fearless. Truthfully, she had never been more afraid. Klaus looked straight in her eyes. "The necklace will give you a nice advantage. Since Luka is so incompetent and was unable to remove the powers that the necklace has, I decided to give it back to you instead. "What's the catch?" Damon and Elena asked, simultaneously. Klaus laughed, shrilly. "It seems that you two really are compatible" he said. Stefan looked at the floor, while Damon looked at Elena.

"As you see, Elena you already have been wearing the necklace for a couple of hours since you passed out. The necklace gives you more power, the longer a person wears it" Klaus explained. "In this case, you will have some qualities that I am sure will come in handy during your search. You will have to go to all boundaries to find them. While, you are looking for these rings, I will be having fun with your friends, here. They will be trapped within their own worst nightmares. Whatever they most fear will be brought to life before their eyes. They will awake from the dream when you return. It will be 12:30 in one minute. You have until 6:30 this morning to find get back here. Go!" Klaus said, as though starting a race.

Elena found that she was now able to move. She ran out of the house as fast as she could. Elena could tell the difference, immediately. She could see much better in the dark. It was really kind of incredible. She had never experienced something like this. She could see things in the shadows that she had never seen before. She heard movements of animals, all around her. Even the smallest sounds, pierced her ears. Elena looked around. She looked in every direction. She had no idea where to begin. They only thing that Elena had to go on was the fence that surrounded the had to stop and think for a minute.

Damon sat up as much as his body would allow him to. "I'm not worried" he said, smugly to Klaus. "I know Elena. She will be fine. She's too smart for you. She will be back here with both of our rings and time to spare". Klaus walked closer to Damon. He smiled at him.

"I hope that you know, I do not allow anyone to escape me. You are nearly out of extra lives" he told Damon. With that, he grabbed a stake and stuck it roughly in side. Damon groaned in agony. He fell down to the floor. "Now your nightmares will begin. Sweet dreams" he said, coldly. Just before they slipped into unconsciousness, Stefan saw the silhouette of the warlock. It was strange but Stefan thought that he had seen this man somewhere before. He just could not remember where. Then suddenly, they all were living inside of their worst nightmares.

Elena was running. No, it was as if she were flying, she was running so fast. She stopped for a moment and looked at her watch. It read 2:30 am. She had been looking for the rings for two hours already. She had had no luck in finding them. Elena was beginning to become panicked. She had looked everywhere. She had looked in trees. She had looked under rocks. She had scratched through the dirt. Now she was thirsty. She was beginning to get tired. Though her senses had been enhanced, she was still a little bit tired. Elena rushed over to a little creek. She sat down by the water and started to lap it up into her hands. Suddenly she heard a voice in the darkness. "Who's there?' she called out . Elena heard air move swiftly past her. Elena turned around quickly. She focused in on one area. She could clearly see a silhouette by the tree. She ran quickly over to the tree. A slim figure emerged to greet her. "Hello again Elena" she said.

"Katherine?" Elena asked, puzzled. "What are you doing here?"

Katherine smiled, deviously. "Why Elena, I am so hurt that you would question me like that. After all, I did save Stefan's life last time I was here. Surely, that counts for something? I'm here to help you locate the rings. What else would I be doing here?" Katherine asked, innocently.

Elena was unsure how to respond. She did not trust Katherine. However, Elena was not in much of a position to argue. It was getting later by the second, and time was not something that not very abundant. Elena reluctantly agreed. "We will meet back here in two hours" Katherine commanded. Elena nodded her head, not wanting to say anything. Katherine began to walk away when something occurred to Elena. "How did you know about this? How did you know we were here?" she asked. Katherine looked at her.

"Well you know I have interests in something that you still possess. I have been watching closely since your last little encounter with Klaus" she answered. Elena understood what it was that she must have meant. Katherine had been looking out for Stefan, just as she had for the past 150 years.

Damon found himself in his nightmare. He was back inside of the Salvatore house. He saw Stefan sitting by the fireplace. His eyes were red and bloodshot. There was a bottle of whiskey on the table next to him, nearly empty. Then he saw a version of himself come walking down the stairs. Damon saw that his own eyes were very red. It appeared as though he had been crying. "Stefan I have to go. I cannot stay here any longer" he said. Damon watched himself walk over to Stefan. At first, Stefan did not say anything. Finally, he got up out of the chair. "You said that you were going to stay Damon. You just can't leave and go back to the way that things were before" Stefan said. Damon walked closer to Stefan.

"You don't understand, dear brother. I'm not that person anymore. I can't do anything good anymore. She was the reason that I became better. Now she is gone! She's dead. Elena is dead and she is not coming back. So yes, Stefan I am leaving . I am going away from Mystic Falls. I am going to go and kill lots of people and I am going to love every minute of he of it" he said, coldly.

Elena searched everywhere that she could think of. Finally, a new idea occurred to her. Klaus may be hiding something in plain sight. She just had to figure out exactly where. She ran towards the back of the house. Elena looked over to the fence. She bent down and began to dig. She did not understand why she had not thought of this before. Klaus had mentioned something about boundaries. The problem was that the fence was so long. It could take her a very long time to find the rings. After what had seemed like forever, Elena saw something that was shining. Elena dug a little deeper. She took out a shiny silver and blue ring. There was a large S on the center of the ring. Now there was only one left. Elena looked at her watch. It was nearly 4:30. She had to go and meet Katherine soon. Elena ran as fast as she could back to the creek.

Stefan found himself in present day Mystic Falls. There were dead bodies strewn throughout his living room. Stefan saw himself covered in blood. There had to be at least 5 dead people in the Salvatore house. He saw Damon walking through the living room. "What have you done? Elena is not going to be happy about this" he said. Stefan wiped his mouth with his hand.

"I can't. I can't stop. I don't know what to do" he said, frantically. Stefan walked over towards Damon. "Please, please help me. I can't help myself. I- I don't know what has happened to me. Please Damon, I need your help" Stefan, pleaded.

"Calm down Stefan. It is going to be ok. We are going to fix this. I will help you through this" Damon said, sternly.

Meanwhile, Damon was trying to fight against his nightmare. He did not want to see anymore. He saw himself, bent over something. Then he realized that he was in the cemetery. He was looking at Elena's grave. He had brought flowers to put on her grave. A single tear fell down his cheek. "I love you" he said to the air. Then as quickly as he had come, Damon left the cemetery with red roses, lying on top of the grave.

Abruptly, everyone suddenly awoke from their nightmare. "It is 5:30 in the morning now" Klaus announced. "You will be put back in your dream states in a moment. I just wanted to tell you all something first. There was a little detail that I forgot to tell Elena. She has vampire qualities. She also has the same vulnerabilities. If she is not back here by 6:30 am and she still has the necklace on, she will burn in the sun. Once again, pleasant dreams" Klaus said.

With that, they were all thrown back into their nightmares. Damon struggled so much. He knew that somehow he had to get out of his nightmare. He had to warn Elena. Damon knew he must tell her, even though he realized this meant he would die.


	21. Chapter 21

She could not even begin to explain how much she loved the power. There were so many vampire qualities that she relished in. The super human strength, enhanced senses, and the ability to move at incredible speeds were a few of the reasons that she enjoyed this so much. In some ways, Elena never wanted this night to end.

Damon watched as the version of himself, slowly stood up from the grave. He could see two single teardrops run down both sides of his cheeks. Damon stared at the single red rose, lying on top of the gravesite. The tombstone read : _Elena Gilbert: Beloved Daughter, Sister, Niece, and Friend. April 11th 1993- February 19__th__ 2011. _Damon watched as the other version of himself started talking. _I must really be crazy. Now I am talking to myself _ Damon thought. "Goodbye, Elena. I will always love you. I have to leave Mystic Falls now." Damon's voice began breaking. "I can't be the better man Elena. I- I have to go now. I have to go kill someone . I- can't do this anymore. I can't be-" he paused. "I can't be that man anymore. I can't be the person that you brought out in me, the one hidden so far inside of my soul. I can't be that Damon. I can't be the Damon that you knew, the Damon that you-. He choked on the last word. "I can't be the person that you loved, well that I think you did. I always hoped that you would. I guess now I'll never know for sure" he said. Suddenly, there was a sound from behind. Damon and his dream counterpart both jumped. They turned simultaneously and were shocked at what they saw.

It was already a few minutes past 4:30 am. Elena rushed back to the creek as fast as she could. Katherine was already there. She looked annoyed. "You're late" Katherine announced. Elena nodded her head. "I was looking for the other ring. I guess I lost track of time" Elena explained. She did not even know why she was bothering to explain herself to Katherine, of all people. "Well, I didn't find it" Katherine said, calmly. Elena was angry. "What is wrong with you?" she yelled Then Elena did something she never thought she would do. She ran over and slapped Katherine across the face as hard as she could. Katherine had not been expecting this. She grabbed Elena and threw her against a tree. Every bone in Elena's back seemed to be on fire. By the time that she recovered, Katherine was long gone.

Damon stared in disbelief at the scene that was unfolding before his eyes. Damon was looking at the ghost of Elena as she crossed the cemetery and walked toward him. Damon stepped out from where he was standing and began to walk closer to her. The figure of Elena walked straight over to the dream version of Damon. Damon had momentarily forgotten that no one else could see him. Elena looked almost exactly the same as she did in the real world. The figure seemed to become more solid, the closer she walked to him. Elena stopped right in front of dream Damon. "Damon I'm here. I've heard what you said. I want to tell you that you can do this" she said. Elena gently stroked Damon's cheek with her hand. "I can't Elena. I don't know how to go on from here" he said. Damon was shaking slightly, but enough that it was noticeable. Elena placed both hands on his face. "Damon you have to let me go. You can be the better man. You can still be the person that I know you are capable of being. You have the strength inside of yourself" she said. Damon slowly shook his head back and forth. "No Elena, I can't. I don't even want to" he said, stubbornly. Elena reached up and kissed him on the forehead. She looked at him straight in the eyes. "You can do this" she said. Damon did not protest any longer. He ran his hand over her arm. "I have to go now" she told him.

"No, don't go" Damon pleaded. There was such sadness in his voice. "I need you, Elena. You can't leave" he said. He sounded nearly hysterical. Elena looked at him one more time. Then she gently kissed his soft lips. The kiss was brief but so sweet. Elena wrapped her tiny hand around his. "I love you too" she said. Then within the next few seconds, she was gone. There was nothing but a small misty shadow left in her wake. "Goodbye Elena", Damon whispered into the wind.

Elena had to find the ring. The time was quickly passing. It was now five o'clock. Elena noticed that with each passing hour her senses had become sharper and sharper. She was now faster, stronger and more sensitive to sounds, movements and smells than she had been when she started out on this search. Elena felt so much different she had before .She was confident that she would succeed in this task. She didn't have any other choice.

Damon stood in the middle of the graveyard still in shock at what he had seen. He looked back and forth between where his counterpart stood and the place where Elena had been standing. He honestly could not believe everything that had happened. Damon's mind tried to piece together everything that had happened. He had come to say goodbye to Elena. He had gotten to touch her and talk to her. Elena had finally acknowledged the one thing that he had wanted to hear for so long. Her strength gave him strength. He could go on now. He had to go on now. There was no other choice for Damon. He took a deep breath and began on his new journey. Damon knew now what he must do. He must leave. He must save her. He had to. There was no other choice.

The whole world seemed to be spinning around Elena. Elena had begun to cry a little bit. She looked at her watch. It read 6:10 am. _How could this much time already passed?_She had looked everywhere. She had looked in the trees, under rocks, and in the dirt. Elena was a total mess. She was covered in dirt from head to toe. No matter what she did, she could not find a solution. However, she was determined not to give up. It did not matter how tired she was. It did not matter that every bone in her body ached. It did not matter that this all seemed hopeless. Elena would not give up. She refused to give up and allow him to die.

There had to be a way out of this nightmare. Damon was fighting with everything that he had. The ghost of Elena left. Damon was still standing in the middle of the cemetery, staring off into the distance. Suddenly Damon looked up at the sky. "I did it Klaus! Is this what you want? I conquered the nightmare! I've won!" he shouted at the sky. Damon's counterpart had not moved at all since Elena left. It was in this moment that Damon realized what had happened. He had been controlling the dream. It appeared as though, the Damon in the nightmare only acted upon what he thought, what he felt. For all intents and purposes this was real. He was going to have to convince this Damon to move on before he could leave. Damon was trying to figure out how to convince the dream Damon to leave. Then he had an idea. He thought that maybe if he accepted that he could still a good person, then the other Damon would be able to move on as well. He turned around. He walked to Elena's grave one last time. Damon bent down and began speaking to it. "You're right, Elena. You've always been right. I can be the better man. I will be the better man. I love you Elena. Goodbye" he said, ever so gently. Suddenly the dream world seemed to dissolve around Damon. Damon opened his eyes. He was back inside of the basement. He had conquered the nightmare. Now he had to figure out a way to get out of the basement and find Elena in time.

Elena heard something move behind her. Quickly she spun around. "Who's there? Katherine?" she asked, unsure of what she had heard. "Elena," she heard a familiar voice say. She turned and saw Damon standing there. "Damon what happened? How did you get out? Are you ok?" she asked in rapid succession. Damon grabbed her by her shoulders. "I'll tell you everything later. Right now you have to do something. You have to take off that necklace. It will kill you. A spell has been put on it to allow you to burn in the sun, just like vampires" he said, forcefully. Elena looked stunned. "What?" she asked. "That's impossible" she protested. Damon shook his head, slowly. "It's true, Elena. You have to take the necklace off." He looked at her watch. It read 6:20. "We only have a few minutes. We have to get back before it's too late" Damon said sternly. Elena looked down and began to cry. "I couldn't do it Damon. I only found one ring" she sobbed. Elena reached into her pocket and took out the silver ring. Instead of responding, suddenly Damon grabbed the necklace from Elena's neck and pulled. Nothing happened. It would not come off.

Damon was surprised that he could not get the necklace off, however he was more surprised at Elena's reaction. Elena pulled back very quickly. "No!" she shouted at Damon. This was the first time that Damon really noticed how Elena looked. She was covered in dirt. She looked pale and exhausted. Despite everything, there was something different about her. It was as though she had this new energy about her body. Power seemed to be coursing through her. "Elena we have to get back to the house. We have to go now" he said, sounding nearly panicked now. Elena was frightened. She was confused. She did not seem to know what was going on. "Damon what's happening to me?" she cried. "I can't take the necklace off but at the same time I don't want to" she admitted. Elena was pacing around the woods. They did not have time for this. Damon grabbed Elena by the wrist. She was sobbing now. "I- I don't understand Damon. I want to go back home. I don't want to do this anymore. I can't help it though. I love this. I want this power. I don't want to be without it. Please Damon, please help me" she pleaded. Damon turned to her and stroked her hair. "You're going to be alright Elena. You just have to come with me" he said. Elena shook her head. "I just can't" she sobbed.

"Shh Elena. Come here" Damon said. Then he gently picked her up in his arms and began running to the house with her. There was only one minute till sunrise when they returned. As a precaution, Damon took the ring out of Elena's pocket and slipped it on his finger. He had expected, all of the doors to be locked. Damon could not take a chance on burning in the sun. "I'm just going to have to borrow this, Stefan" Damon said aloud.

Damon opened the cellar door and they went in. Alaric and Luka were not in good condition. The smell of blood hit Elena like a ton of bricks. She actually nearly felt dizzy from it. Suddenly, Stefan and Bonnie were awoken from their nightmares. They both looked around very confused. "Elena? Damon?" Stefan asked, wondering what was going on. "Yeah we're here Stefan. I have something to give to you" Damon said. Damon walked over to Stefan, took off the ring and handed it to him.

Then Stefan seemed to remember everything that had happened. "Wait a second, what about you? Where's your ring?" he asked, concerned. Damon took a deep breath. When he spoke, his voice was shaky. "Elena only found yours" Damon said, trying not to sound too defeated. Damon did not want to think that these few moments might be the last he saw his brother.

"How did you get out?" Stefan asked.

"I let him go" Klaus answered. "I knew that he wouldn't survive anyhow, so I figured there was no harm in not giving him what he wanted, to attempt to save the girl he loves. It was a nice attempt, I must admit. "Now I believe that it is 6:30. It is now time to open the doors and watch at least one vampire burn" Klaus said, happily.

Suddenly, the lights went out. There was a rush of cold air. Then a door slammed shut. Quickly Klaus turned the lights back on. Everyone was confused as to what had happened. Then Damon looked down sawn that his ring had been placed in his hand. "Hello again, Klaus" a voice called out from behind them. Everyone turned to see Katherine standing in the back of the room. "Ah, the lovely Katherine makes an appearance again. You really do like saving the day don't you? You of course, just do it for your own glory though" Klaus said, arrogantly. Katherine smiled, devilishly. "Well you would know all about that Klaus. You're the master of it. I'm just surprised that you didn't catch onto the necklace earlier. It obviously never worked for Charlotte, seeing as she is dead" Katherine said.

Everyone looked back and forth between the two as though at a tennis match. "I suppose that you must have a warlock of your own to have pulled the little stunt with the lights" Klaus said.

"Witch, actually" Katherine corrected. "Why don't you bring out your man behind the curtain or are you afraid of being found out?" Katherine asked. Klaus did not respond, immediately.

"Well, I'm certainly not afraid". Klaus called out into the house. A few moments later, a man opened the door and walked down the stairs to the basement. It took a few minutes before someone finally realized who he was. It was Elena who spoke first. "I saw you at the hospital. You're Matt's father" Elena said, sounding shocked. The tall man with dirty blond hair looked at them all. "Yes, I am and you killed my daughter" he said simply.


	22. Chapter 22

TVD part 22

Elena felt like her head was about to burst open. "I don't feel very good" Elena said, just before she started to fall down. Damon rushed over and caught her mid fall. "Are you ok Elena?" he asked. Elena looked up into his deep blue eyes. She nodded. She had been awake for a very long time and had gone without food for many hours.

Klaus began to laugh. "So is the precious Elena starting to feel a little bit lightheaded? As long as that necklace is on, you are going to experience some things that you never have before" Klaus said. Damon tried to take a step toward Klaus. He realized that once again, he was unable to move. Katherine found that she could not move either. Klaus merely smirked at him. "Why don't you offer our guest something to eat, Michael?" Klaus suggested. Michael walked back into the house. A few moments later he had returned carrying something that looked like a large thermos .He walked over to Elena and took the cap off of it. Elena looked inside, but she could smell it before the cap had even come off. It was filled with blood.

"Why would you offer Elena blood?" Stefan asked, sounding confused. Neither Klaus nor Michael answered him, however. "It's because the spell that he used caused Elena to have _all_ the traits of a vampire" Bonnie said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her. "He enhanced the necklace so that Elena would be able to feel exactly what it is like to become a vampire" she said. "Yes, that is correct" Michael said.

Michael held the thermos close to Elena's face. Elena turned her head away. She was closing her eyes. The smell of the blood hit Elena's nostrils. She tried to ignore it. She did not understand it. Elena wanted it. She wanted it so badly. Then without warning, Elena began to feel a very sharp pain. She fell to the floor clutching her head. Everyone stared in utter shock. Damon looked beyond furious. He would have torn Michael limb from limb had he been able to move. "Stop it, stop hurting her!" Bonnie screamed at Mr. Donovan. Michael turned toward Bonnie, giving her a cold look. "First of all, I'm not hurting her. This is a mere side effect of the spell. Secondly, she is one of the reasons that my daughter is dead, therefore I will have no mercy on her or anyone else involved" he responded.

Elena grabbed her mouth. She placed her hand on her teeth and felt two sharp canines. Tears were streaming down Elena's face. "I- I don't want this" she stammered. Elena pushed herself up from the floor and stood up. "What's happening to me?" she asked. Michael walked closer to Elena again. He once again placed the thermos in front of Elena's face. Elena was shaking ever so slightly. Michael moved the thermos around in a circle in front of Elena's face. Elena couldn't fight it anymore. She couldn't deal with it anymore. Elena grabbed the thermos and quickly gulped down all of the blood.

The look on Stefan's and Damon's face was incredulous. They really could not believe what had happened. "Elena! No!" Stefan screamed. Michael took the thermos away from Elena. Klaus was smiling. Elena turned to look towards Stefan and Damon. There were tears running down her face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry" she sobbed. "I couldn't- I can't help myself. I didn't want to. I don't want to" she cried. Then she looked directly at Damon. "Make it stop. Please make it stop" she sobbed. Then Elena said the one thing that was guaranteed to get a strong reaction out of Damon. She looked straight into his blue eyes. "You lied. You said everything was going to be ok" she said quietly, as the last of her teardrops fell onto the floor.

Elena gathered her strength and turned around to face Klaus directly. She hastily wiped the blood from her mouth with her hand. Klaus could not have been more pleased with himself. Almost everything had gone exactly according to plan. There was no reason why he couldn't kill Stefan and Damon some other way. It would only be too easy. "So Elena what do you think of your new powers?" Klaus asked, snidely.

"I hate them" Elena responded, icily. Then someone in the back of the room grunted.

"Come on, Elena everybody knows that you're lying" Katherine sneered. Elena did not respond. She realized, with an unexplainable horrible pang in her gut, that what Katherine had said was true. Satisfied that she did not receive a response, Katherine said "See, I told you so."

Klaus walked over to Elena. He looked her over with a great intensity. Elena stared at Klaus with such hatred that it should have had the power to kill. "How would you like to complete the transition dear?" Klaus asked her.

"Don't touch her!" Damon yelled at Klaus. Once again, Klaus looked at Damon as though he were a little boy. "There is nothing that you can do about it, you know" Klaus said. "I will touch her if I so please" he told Damon. Klaus placed his hands on Elena's face and titled her neck backward. He began to run his finger up and down the carotid artery. "It's so beautiful. It's too bad that I'll only get one taste before turning you. It is your boyfriends' greatest fear that you be turned into a monster yourself" Klaus whispered to Elena, as he looked back and forth between Stefan and Damon.

Klaus grabbed Elena's neck. At first, she began to struggle. Then she decided against it. Klaus opened his mouth and sunk his teeth into Elena's throat. There were shouts and screams all over the room. The only one who was silent was Elena, herself. Finally Klaus was done. Elena caught her breath. Then she looked Klaus straight in the eyes. "You can't turn me into a vampire. I don't have any vampire blood in my system" Elena said with fierce determination. Klaus looked into her eyes. He saw the sparkle in her brown eyes, that Elena had when he was being stubborn about something. "What is it that you think that you drank Elena? That was my blood" Klaus said. Elena's eyes began to bulge as the information sunk in. Klaus placed his hands around Elena's neck. " 3….. 2… and" Klaus started to say. It was at this very moment that all the chaos broke out.

Greater pain or confusion had never been known to anyone who was in this room. Everything was happening at once. The lights were turned out. The doors all locked. It was like a bad horror movie. Ear piercing screams filled the room. There were screams of pain and utter terror. Even, in over two thousand years of his existence Klaus had never felt such Power. Where was it all coming from? What was happening? All of the vampires were in severe pain. They were writhing on the floor, clutching their heads, their sides, anything that they could reach. Elena was in a great deal of pain, as well. This was another one of her downfalls. Suddenly, the lights came on, and the full extent of the damage could now be seen.

Bonnie was the first to get a good look. She found that she was now able to move about the room freely. She rushed over to Luka and Alaric. They both were lucky to still be alive at this point. They had lost so much blood and had not been able to receive proper nutrition. "Bonnie" Luka coughed. Bonnie reached down and grabbed his hand. "Just hold on a little bit longer Luka. Everything will be over soon" she tried to reassure him. Luka shook his head back and forth slowly. "Just tell my dad, just tell him that I love him" Luka said. Bonnie realized that he was delirious. She nodded her head. "Yeah don't worry, I'll tell him" she said. Luka looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. Bonnie had no time. Elena was waking up now but Stefan, Damon, Katherine, and Klaus were still out. Elena and Bonnie looked at each other. They knew that they would have to work very quickly. It was then, that they saw Michael beginning to stir.

Bonnie concentrated as much as she could. She tried to think of a spell that she could use against him. Elena gave Bonnie a meaningful look. "Do you think?" she began to ask. Bonnie nodded in agreement.

"You have to hurry, Elena, Klaus isn't going to be out much longer" she warned. "Well how did?" Elena started to ask again. Bonnie shook her head. Now was not the time for questions. Bonnie began to chant a spell in Latin. Michael was now beginning to get to his feet. Michael got up and looked around the room. He looked as though he was panicked. Bonnie and Elena did not understand what was going on. " Power" he whispered. "I've never felt such Power." Then without another glance, he ran up the stairs and out of sight. Elena rushed over toward Alaric. Klaus had already begun to move his hands. Within another minute or two, he would be fully awake.

Alaric had lost a lot of blood, over the last several days. He was not as bad off as Luka had been however. "Elena" Alaric coughed, quietly. Elena looked over Alaric. She was trying to concentrate on what she had to do. Alaric still had some blood on him. It was then that she noticed an open wound on his hand. Elena stared at it with such a longing that she had never felt before. What was going on with her? She couldn't do this. Quickly she took her new teeth and dug them into her wrist. She was not even sure if this was going to work. She had to try. "Here drink this" she said. Alaric was very confused, but he obeyed, nevertheless. "Where is the stake?" she asked him. Alaric looked at her and tried to respond. He could not say anything when he realized that Klaus was now awake.

Elena turned and saw the ravenous vampire standing behind her. Klaus smiled that devious smile at her. Elena looked and saw that Bonnie was backed up against the wall, frozen with fear. Elena looked towards the back of the room and saw Damon, Stefan, and Katherine finally beginning to wake up. Klaus grabbed Elena roughly by the neck and held her roughly against the wall. Elena began to choke. She could not breathe. "You have escaped death twice now, it will not happen again" Klaus warned.

The next thing that Elena remembered was waking up inside of the Salvatore house. She sat up, dazed, and looked around a room that she did not recognize at first. Then she realized that it was Damon's room. She was lying in his bed. It was dark, but there was a dim light near the bed. The door creaked opened and a shadowy figure approached the bed. "What happened?" she asked, as Damon sat down at the foot of the bed. "Klaus? What about Stefan, Bonnie, and Alaric are they ok?" she asked, frantically. At first, Damon did not respond.

"Klaus is dead. You killed him, with a little bit of help. Bonnie did some spell that managed to weaken him. Then that weird magical power came back. An ash stake, seemed to appear out of nowhere. I think that maybe you have a guardian angel" Damon told her. Elena was confused. Then she placed her hand on her neck. "The necklace is gone" she said, sounding amazed.

I don't know what happened. I guess that the spell must have worn off" Damon explained. "Bonnie, Stefan, and Alaric are alright. Alaric had lost a lot of blood but Stefan and I have given him enough that he will be ok" Damon said. "Katherine left too. I don't know where she went" he said. Then Damon pulled Elena close to him. He hugged her, not wanting to ever let go. Then Elena and Damon began to look into each other's eyes. He stroked her cheek gently with his hand. Then Elena reached forward and began to kiss to him.

The kiss was gentle. It was perfect. Elena could tell feel the electricity coursing through her. She had never felt anything like this before. Elena felt her heart rate quicken. Damon held her gently against him. All too soon, it was over. "You should rest. You've had a long couple of days" Damon said, quietly. Elena could tell that he was trying to be noble. He really didn't to take advantage of this situation. Reluctantly, Elena agreed. "Ok but you have to promise me one thing" she said.

"Anything" Damon answered, swiftly.

"Promise me that when I wake up, you'll be here" she said.

Damon looked into Elena's eyes for a brief moment. He sighed. "Yes, I'll be here, now go to sleep" he said. With that, Damon kissed Elena's forehead and left the room.

Elena had only just started to try to fall asleep, when she heard the door open again. "I knew you couldn't stay away" she said playfully. Elena turned to greet Damon and saw that it was not him. "Hello Elena, I've come to offer you what you want" Katherine said. Elena looked at her, startled. "What are you talking about?" Elena demanded.

"You know that I have what you want. You want Power. You want to become a vampire" Katherine said, simply. Katherine ripped her wrist open and the blood began to flow freely. Elena looked at her, blankly at first. Then she grabbed Katherine's wrist and began to drink.

Bonnie was still shaken up. She wanted to go home. She needed to go home. "Are you ok?" Stefan asked her. Bonnie was contemplating whether or not she should tell him the truth. She shook her head no. "What's wrong?" he asked. Bonnie swallowed as she tried to get the words out. "You know when we had the nightmares?" she asked. Stefan nodded. "Well my worst nightmare, wasn't a nightmare. It- it was more like a prophecy. Bonnie grasped Stefan by the hand. "Elena is going to be become a vampire" Bonnie whispered.

She watched everything that occurred from a safe distance, just as she had done for the last century and a half. A full smile, made it almost up to her gorgeous eyes. Everything had happened, just as she had planned it. She had a special knack for getting exactly what she wanted. Once again, the woman walked away without a backward glance.

THE END-

I am going to hopefully begin a sequel soon. I would really like to thank everyone who has read this. It really means a lot to me.

Sequel title: Into the Frying Pan


	23. Chapter 23

I want to thank everyone who has read my fan fiction about the vampire diaries. I am very sorry that I have not updated any of the story for several months. I want to let everyone know that I am trying to write an original fiction story and hope to get it published on e-books. Therefore, I do not have time to write my fan fiction stories anymore. I love the vampire diaries. I wish I had more time. Please leave me a message if you have any questions. Thanks


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